Willie Calhoun & Jose Trevino Bail Boone Out. NY 4 Cleveland 3

Willie Calhoun singled in the tying run in the bottom of the 9th with 1 out, and Jose Trevino singled in the winning run in the bottom of the 10th with 1 out, to lead NY to the 4-3 win over Cleveland on a chilly Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium.

The two bailed manager Aaron Boone out of another blunder — his penchant for switching pitchers with 2 outs in an inning burned him again — this time Ron Marinaccio was sailing in the top of the 9th in a 2-2 tie game, but with 2 outs Boone inexplicably brought in Clay Holmes — who had blown a save just the other day — and Holmes immediately allowed a double and a single to give Cleveland a 3-2 lead.

This caused boos to echo down from a relatively scantly attended Yankee Stadium, and chants of “Fire Aaron Boone” could be heard.

But Willie Calhoun and Jose Trevino turned it around and the Yankees had their 2nd straight come-from-behind win.

“Just a good job of Trevi staying in the center of the field probably knowing he’s getting some spin there, and getting enough of it,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards about Trevino’s walk off.

“With Cacci going yesterday, I really wanted to keep him at 1 inning; obviously I was willing to use him in 2 ups there,” explained Boone about taking out Marinaccio for Holmes. “But Holmes is going to have to finish the game in the next inning anyway, so wanted to get him in there with 2 outs against the righty to maybe make a better setup going into the 9th knowing I’m going to have to get 4 outs with Holmes.”

This was a tad confusing as Holmes was brought in with 2 outs in the top of the 9th, not the 8th. So either Boone didn’t have confidence that the Yanks would score against Cleveland closer Emmanuel Clase in the bottom of the 9th, and he planned to have Holmes pitch the 10th, or that Boone incorrectly thought it was the 8th inning.

In any case, NY improves to 17-15, still in dead last in the AL East, 8.5 behind Tampa. Cleveland falls to 14-17, in 2nd place, 3 games behind Minny in the AL Central.

1. Schmidt Did Good

It was a Clarke Schmidt start — so all eyes were upon him to see if he could put it together or would make mistakes to doom himself again.

And it didn’t start off good. In the top of the 1st, he allowed a leadoff single to Steven Kwan to start the game, but got a groundout to force Kwan at 2nd, then another groundout that Anthony Rizzo booted for an error.

Schmidt struck out Josh Naylor for what should have been the final out of the inning. But then allowed consecutive RBI singles to DH Josh Bell and shortstop Andres Gimenez and it was 2-0 Cleveland while people were still finding their seats at the 55-degree and overcast Yankee Stadium.

But Schmidt got a groundout to end the inning and then pitched a shutout 2nd through 4th inning — although he rope-a-doped trouble:

  • He allowed 2 singles in the 2nd, but with 1st and 3rd, 1 out, struck out Amed Rosario and got Jose Ramirez to fly to center. Phew.
  • Schmidt walked a batter in the 3rd but got a double play. He pitched a 1-2-3 4th inning, then struck out Rosario to start the 5th before yielding a single to Ramirez and then yielding to Ian Hamilton.

Schmidt’s line: 4.1 innings, 6 hits, 0 earned runs — he lowers his ERA to 5.38.

2. Bieber Tough to Hit

Meanwhile one of the best pitchers in the American League was on the other hill: Shane Bieber. Bieber mowed down the Yankee lineup — retiring the minimum first 11 batters — DJ LeMahieu singled in the 2nd but was erased on a double play.

But the Yanks were hitting some balls hard off him and in the 5th that manifested.

3. Calhoun HR Starts Yank Comeback

Lefty swinging Willie Calhoun led off the 5th with a shot to right for a solo Homer and the Yanks were back in the game, down 2-1.

4. Bauer HR Ties It

A batter later, lefty swinging Jake Bauer rocketed one to right and it was a 2-2 tie. “Jake Bauers the man of the hour!” was John Sterling‘s call on the radio for Bauer’s first Yankee HR.

After that Bieber pitched a shutout 6th and 7th; his slash line: 8 innings, 5 hits, 2 runs.

5. Hamilton, Cordero Marinaccio Great

Yank relievers Ian Hamilton, Jimmy Cordero, and Ron Marinaccio all pitched shutout ball.

Hamilton got the last 2 outs of the 5th — getting a pickoff of Ramirez and striking out Josh Naylor to end the inning — and pitched a 1-2-3 6th.

Cordero pitched a 1-2-3 7th.

Marinaccio came in after Cordero allowed a leadoff single in the 8th, and got the next 3 batters in order — getting Ramirez to fly to center, striking out Josh Naylor, and getting Bell on a line out.

6. Boone’s Blunder

And Marinaccio was still sailing in the top of the 9th, getting the first 2 outs, striking out Will Brennan — before Boone inexplicably yanked him for Clay Holmes.

Holmes allowed a shallow fly ball to center by Myles Straw that 3 Yanks converged on: Harrison Bader — just back from being out the entire season so far — dove for it and couldn’t get it — colliding with Isiah Kiner-Falefa coming in from left.

Bader was injured on the play. According to Boone he probably will not miss much time; they removed him from the game for precautionary tests, as he hit his head against Kiner-Falefa.

The Yanks had to move Isiah Kiner-Falefa from left to center, and brought in Oswaldo Cabrera to play left.

Gonzalez then hit a bloop to left center that Kiner-Falefa could not get to — it dropped in for a go-ahead run — as the boos rang down and the chants of “Fire Aaron Boone” were heard.

Holmes threw a wild pitch before getting the final out of the inning.

7. Calhoun RBI Single Ties It

Cleveland brought in Emmanuel Clase their closer to finish the Yanks and Boone off — but Anthony Rizzo led off the bottom of the 9th with a single. Oswaldo Peraza went in to run for him — and stole 2nd base — spraining his ankle while doing so.

Aaron Hicks ran for Peraza, and moved to 3rd on a groundout — then scored on a 1-out, clutch RBI single to the opposite field on a 1-0 pitch from the tough Clase. Tie Game.

8. Abreu the Hero in the Top of 10th

With the inherited runner on 2nd to start the 10th, Albert Abreu struck out Rosario, intentionally walked Jose Ramirez, and got Josh Naylor to ground into a double play. HUGE.

9. Trevino Walks It Off

And then in the bottom of the 10th against Trevor Stephan, with Oswaldo Cabrera the inherited runner on 2nd, Jake Bauers walked, Kiner-Falefa bunted the runners to 2nd and 3rd, and Jose Trevino walked it off with a single to center for the old ballgame.

Etcetera

  • If you read through this article and thought you saw “striking out Josh Naylor” multiple times — it’s because you did; Naylor struck out 3 times — often in key situations — and hit into that key double play in the 10th, although he did walk in the 3rd.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401471474

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