Yankees get the type of win they need now in marathon Guardians battle
CLEVELAND — The Yankees hadn’t won an extra-inning game all season and Cody Bellinger stepped into the box as about half the hitter on the road that he is at home.And he delivered to beat the odds that the Yankees are going to have to continue to overcome as a complete team — including almost an entire bullpen — while Aaron Judge is sidelined.Don’t miss Greg Joyce’s text messages from The Bronx and beyond — he’s giving Sports+ subscribers the inside buzz on the Yankees.
Bellinger’s tiebreaking one-out single in the 10th inning scored automatic runner Trent Grisham and the runner that scared the Guardians into an intentional walk (Ben Rice) as the Yankees beat the Guardians 7-5 in a nearly four-hour Monday night marathon.The Yankees improved to 1-3 in extra innings.Bellinger entered the game with a 1.140 OPS at Yankee Stadium and a .591 OPS on the road.
Confounding splits that didn’t matter as he bested Shawn Armstrong’s 95 mph fastball.The Yankees used their entire bench and all but one arm in the bullpen.David Bednar, the seventh reliever, recorded the final five outs, including three straight with the tying runs on base.Paul Goldschmidt, whose first-inning, two-run home run started the scoring, tied the score at 5-5 on an RBI fielder’s choice in the eighth inning.
The Yankees had three singles in the rally but were robbed of taking the lead by one of the niftiest double plays of the season.With the infield in, shortstop Brayan Rocchio slid to his knees, lifted his glove to snag a high bounce up the middle, tagged the base with the ball in his glove, rolled over and threw from one knee.The ball hopped but was scooped at first to get the speedy Jazz Chisholm Jr.At the same moment that lasers danced around the court at Madison Square Garden during the Knicks pregame introductions for Game 3 of the NBA Finals, fireworks went off high above center field 463 miles away in front of 29,517 fans at Progressive Field.Entering with a runner on ...