What a Win! NY 4 KC 3 in 11 innings

September 12, 2024 paperbacklou 2024 0

What a win!

The Yankees overcame terrific Kansas City pitching and came from behind twice to beat the Royals in 11 innings at Yankee Stadium on a Beautiful, 70-degree September 11th Wednesday night — playoff electricity in the air. Similar in weather to that horrific day 23 years ago, which was remembered before the game.

NY got a clutch 2-run BOMB by Juan Soto in the 6th, who limped to the plate after badly fouling a pitch off his foot, then got a Clutch sac fly with 1 out in the 10th by Austin Wells to tie the game, and then a clutch RBI infield single by Jazz Chisholm Jr.with 1 out in the 11th, plating the runner from 3rd for the walkoff.

In between all that they got heroic relief pitching in the late innings from Luke Weaver, Tommy Kahnle, and Jake Cousins — and a gutsy start from Luis Gil.

The lead increased the NY lead over Baltimore to 1.5 games, as the Red Sox came from behind to beat the Orioles.

“Huge swing by Juan there,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwars. “A little rope-a-dope. Got off the matt and put one in the seats. A lot of guys did a lot of really good things tonite. Bullpen was excellent. Luis wasn’t perfect but still you look up and it’s 5 innings, 1 run. Just a lot of really good things. Some important plays in the field: Jazz makes a great play down the line, and then obviously that’s a big at bat there in the end.”

Dream Weaver

If there was a hero of all the heroes, it was a Luke Weaver who got big outs in the 10th and 11th to deny the Royals runs.

“His stuff right now is excellent,” said Boone about Weaver. “He’s getting his fastball where he wants to; it’s got great life to it. But he’s got the ability to mix in secondary whether it’s cutter or that little version of the cutter that he has and really good changeup. And he’s now getting more and more used to, with the year that he’s had, being in these big moments and these big parts of the game. Coming in there in a huge spot, getting us out of the 10th, and finishing off with a great inning in the 11th. He was excellent. He was dialed in.”

NY wins 2 of 3 from the tough Royals team, and improves to 84-62. KC drops to 80-67.

1. Gil Gutsy

Luis Gil wasn’t in rhythm at the start and had a rough 1st inning, allowing a 1-out double to Bobby Witt Jr.and then walking the next 2 batters with 8 straight balls to load the bases. But Gil found his rhythm and back to get a strikeout and groundout to end it with no runs across.

Gil then pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 2nd, got 3 straight outs after a leadoff single in the 3rd.

But in the 4th, Gil made a mistake to 2nd baseman Michael Massey and he hit it out to right for a 1-0 KC lead.

Gil got the final 2 outs of the 4th then worked around a 1-out single and 2-out single in the 5th. His line: 5 IP, 5 H, 1 run, 5 K’s, 2 walks. He doesn’t get a decision but his ERA notches down; his record: 13-6 3.18.

2. Ragans Shuts Down NY

Meanwhile the Yanks were up against Cole Ragans, a tough 26-year-old, 6’4 lefty who came in with an 11-9 3.33 record.

Ragans used a 96-MPH four-seam fastball, and good cutter, changeup, slider combo to shut down the Yanks — pitching a 1-2-3 inning in the 1st and 2nd innings, allowing just a single to Anthony Rizzo in the 3rd, and a 1-out walk to Aaron Judge in the 4th, and then a 1-2-3 inning in the 5th.

Going into the 6th, NY was down 1-0 and had only the 1 hit and 1 walk against Ragan.

3. Soto Finally Gets to Ragans with 2-Run Bomb

But in the 6th, Gleyber Torres worked a 1-out walk against Ragans. Juan Soto then fouled a 2-2 pitch off his foot and howled in pain as he walked it off toward 1st. The trainer and Aaron Boone came out to tend to him and Yankee Universe wondered how bad it was — whether he would be able to continue or if he had broken a bone in his foot and would be out.

The Yankee season kind of hung in the balance!

And then Soto stepped back in — and Ripped a 2-run BOMB to right for a 2-1 Yankee lead. The limp was all gone as he trotted around the bases.

4. Hill Good; Helped by Chisholm D

Tim Hill pitched a shutout 6th in relief of Luis Gil — and got help by a Tremendous, Graig Nettles-esq play by Jazz Chisholm Jr.to start the inning.

Hill allowed a 2-out single but got the final out for a scoreless inning and was in line for a possible win after the Soto homer in the bottom of the 6th.

5. Holmes Allows Run to Tie It

But in the top of the 7th, Clay Holmes came in and didn’t have it. He allowed a leadoff single to Kyle Isbel, then a hard-hit shot of a single to Tommy Pham, then a rocket lineout by Bobby Witt Jr.to right, which allowed Isbel to move to 3rd on a sac fly.

Salvador Perez drove in Isbel with a sac fly to left and it was a tie game 2-2 before Holmes got the final out on a strikeout. A good sign.

6. Volpe Out at Home on Doubleplay in 7th

With the game tied 2-2, Anthony Volpe started a Yankee rally in the bottom of the 7th with a 1-out single against lefty Sam Long. Anthony Rizzo worked a walk to put runners on 1st and 2nd.

Jose Trevino then hit a chopper to 1st that Salvador Perez, playing 1st, made the play on and tagged Trevino down the baseline while Anthony Volpe made a dash home. Perez threw a bullet home to nail Volpe at the plate.

Umps initially ruled that Perez had missed the tag on Trevino so he was called safe at 1st — but KC won the challenge and it was an inning-ending double play.

7. Erceg Shuts Down Yanks Late

And then Lucas Erceg entered the game for Kansas City, a 29-year-old righthander they acquired from Oakland at the trade deadline for 3 prospects.

Erceg throws 100-MPH SMOKE and throws in a nasty 85-MPH slider. Erceg pitched a shutout 8th — Aaron Judge actually got a single off him with 2 outs but Erceg struck out Chisholm on 3 pitches to end the inning — an 86-MPH slider and then two 99-MPH fastballs.

Erceg also pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the 9th — Anthony Volpe making the final out by grounding out on a 99-MPH sinker — did we mention Erceg has a 99-MPH sinker too?

8. Kahnle, Cousins Terrific

Meanwhile the Yankee late-inning relievers were just as terrific — in fact, even more so.

Tommy Kahnle pitched a 1-2-3 shutout 8th — groundout, lineout, strikeout — to keep the score 2-2.

Jake Cousins pitched a shutout top of 9th — allowing a 2-out walk to Tommy Pham but then picking him off 1st — the second runner Cousins had picked off 1st this week.

In the top of the 10th, Cousins had to deal with the inherited runner on 2nd — and worse yet, the Royals put in speedster Dairon Blanco to run for Pham.

Cousins struck out Bobby Witt Jr.to start the inning, but Blanco stole 3rd. Blanco then danced off 3rd, and scored when Cousins threw a pitch in the dirt that got away from Trevino momentarily.

Cousins walked the tough Salvador Perez — who massacred the Yanks with his hitting in the 3-game series — and was relieved by Luke Weaver.

Weaver got a fly out and strike out to end the inning but the Yanks were down 2-1 and now needed to score their inherited runner.

9. Wells Clutch Sac Fly Ties It

Down 2-1 in the bottom of the 11th with Anthony Volpe the inherited runner on 2nd, the Yanks played small ball against reliever Kris Bubic. Oswaldo Cabrera popped up a bunt but it dropped in for a sacrifice.

Then Austin Wells pinch hit — and hit a Clutch sac fly to left, Volpe just barely getting in in time on a slide home.

10. Dream Weaver

And then Dream Weaver in the top of the 11th — with the inherited runner on 2nd, he got a short fly to left by Michael Massey that didn’t advance the runner, then struck out Paul DeJung and Maikel Garcia to strand the inherited runner on 2nd and give the Yanks a chance at a walk off.

11. Chisholm Clutch Hit Wins It

Jon Berti pinch ran as the inherited runner in the bottom of the 11th, and Juan Soto led off with a grounder to the right side that advanced Berti to 3rd with 1 out. Then Jazz Chisholm Jr.did his job — knocking a 2-1 slider from Bubic into the hole where Bobby Witt Jr.could only dive on it and throw awkwardly home — wide — as the run scored for the old ballgame!

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401570653

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