Yanks Set Record For Taking Late Lead — Beat KC 8-6 in 11

August 10, 2021 paperbacklou 2021 0

In a see-saw of constant hope and utter disappointment, the Yankees became the 1st team in history to blow a lead in the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th innings — and at the same time became the 1st team in history to take the lead in the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th innings.

The Yankees prevailed 8-6 in 11 innings as Wandy Peralta of all people was the NY pitcher to finally put Kansas City to bed — near 1am in the morning East Coast time. This was a game that was a 0-0 tie entering the 7th inning!

It was a huge win for NY — which pulled to within 6 of Tampa, 2 games of 2nd place Boston, and 1 game ahead of 4th place Toronto.

1. Taillon Terrific in Pitchers’ Duel

The game started out as a pitchers’ duel between NY’s Jameson Taillon and Kansas City’s Carlos Hernandez. Taillon was on fire — as he has been in each of his last 6 starts prior to this one. He shutout Kansas City through 6 innings, on 4 hits, striking out 4.

He used his 95-MPH, 4-seam fastball mixed with his 87-MPH slider and 86-MPH changeup to effect, and by the 3rd inning, started to mix in his awesome 81-MPH curveball. He emptied the tank in the 6th by throwing 4 straight fastballs to Andrew Benintendi, getting him to fly out.

Meanwhile Hernandez was just as tough on the Yankees — using his off-speed pitches — mostly sliders and sinkers with an occasional 95-MPH four-seam fastball — to shut them out through 6 innings. DJ LeMahieu hit a 1-out triple in the 2nd but was stranded at 3rd after Luke Voit struck out. Hernandez then retired the Yankees 1-2-3 in order in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th innings.

2. Yanks Jump on Top in 7th; KC Ties It in 7th

The Yankees finally got to Hernandez in the top of the 7th. Aaron Judge doubled with 1 out, moved to 3rd on an infield single by Joey Gallo, and scored on a DJ LeMahieu ground out to the pitcher — but was called out by the home plate ump. The replay clearly showed Judge was safe, sliding under the tag — but the review did not overturn the ump call, so he was out.

Luke Voit then singled to left to plate a run anyway — ball don’t lie.

Yet Kansas City tied it in the bottom of the 7th, when Emmanuel Rivera singled to lead off against Taillon, went to 2nd on a pickoff error by reliever Jonathan Loaisiga, went to 3rd on a balk by Loaisiga, and scored on a sac fly.

3. Yanks Jump on Top in 8th; KC Ties It in 8th

NY jumped back on top in the top of the 8th when Tyler Wade — who had the offensive day of his career; 2 for 3 with a walk and 3 runs scored — got on base on catcher’s interference, got to 2nd on a walk to Brett Gardner, and scored on a 2-out single by Aaron Judge.

But KC came right back against Loaisiga in the bottom of the 8th — a leadoff single by 2nd baseman Nicky Lopez, a walk, and then a 1-out single to right center by Andrew Benintendi against Chad Green. It was 2-2.

4. Yanks Jump on Top in 9th; KC Ties It in 9th

The Yanks jumped on top again in the top of the 9th on a 2-out homer by Luke Voit. And all was right with the Yankee universe.

But KC got to Zack Britton in the bottom of the 9th. Britton was a strike away from a victory — he got the 1st two batters but walked Whit Merrifield, who stole 2nd and scored on a 2-out single by Nicky Lopez on a 2-2 pitch for a tie game — 3-3.

5. Yanks Score 2 in 10th; KC Ties It in 10th

And so it was to the 10th, with the inherited runner starting at 2nd base. But the Yanks did better than score that run — they plated that runner and scored another for a 5-3 lead — what looked like the winning advantage.

Tyler Wade led off with a single, sending Yankee shortstop and inherited runner Andrew Velazquez to 3rd (Gleyber Torres is out with an injured thumb and Velazquez was just called up from AAA). Kyle Higashioka hit a sac fly for a 4-3 lead and Brett Gardner singled to center for a 5-3 lead. Yankee Twitter rejoiced and many said they wouldn’t make fun of Gardner for the rest of the season.

But KC came right back with 2 runs of their own in the bottom of the 10th. Chad Holmes, pitching for NY, got the 1st out but walked Andrew Benintendi and then threw a wild pitch to put Benintendi on 2nd. A sac fly scored inherited runner Hunter Dozier, and then with 2 out — Hanser Alberto singled to right to tie the score 5-5.

6. Yanks Score 3 in 11th; KC Only Scores 1

To the 11th.

DJ LeMahieu immediately doubled in Joey Gallo the inherited runner and Yankee fans were feeling optimistic again. But they needed another run.

After Luke Voit lined out and Rougned Odor grounded out — it looked like NY would only get the 1 run — but Tyler Wade worked a walk on a 7-pitch at bat, and then Brett Gardner hit a shot to shortstop that took a bad hop and hit Nicky Lopez in the face — ricocheting off Lopez as he fell to the ground. It was an infield hit and both Wade and Gardner scored for a 7-5 NY lead.

Manager Aaron Boone reached for Wandy Peralta to pitch the 11th — making all of Yankee Twitter nervous — could he blow a 3-run lead?

Peralta got the 1st two outs and then — two straight singles scored the inherited runner and put 1st and 2nd, 2 out and the winning run at the plate.

Carlos Santana grounded out to Odor at 3rd, who made a nifty play for the Old Ballgame.

PHEW.

Etcetera

The Yanks ended up getting 11 hits and 8 runs — in a game they were being shutout into the 7th inning.

  • Brett Gardner, leading off, went 2-4 with 2 walks and 3 RBI’s. Good move Aaron Boone!
  • Tyler Wade as mentioned above went 2-3 with a walk and 3 runs scored
  • Luke Voit got 2 hits including the homer
  • Aaron Judge and DJ LeMahieu also got 2 hits each

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401228746

 

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