Brantleys clutch hit ended the 5-hour, 4-minute game and triggered just the second walk-off winning celebration by the Indians this season.
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As the Yankees look to finish the year on top of the AL East, their method of shortening games from both the front end and the back (first-inning runs & shutdown relief) has proven to be an effective formula.
CLEVELAND-As news of the fiasco at New York Jets camp broke Tuesday, Yankee players stood glued to the clubhouse televisions before their game against the Cleveland Indians, mesmerized by the revelation that linebacker IK Enemkpali had broken quarterback Geno Smith’s jaw.
“It’s hard to believe”, said Alex Rodriguez, mired with a. 208 slugging percentage in a seven-game stretch.
In the top of the sixth, Brett Gardner, after going 0-for-8 in the series singled to right, but with Chase Headley at the plate, Perez nailed Gardner trying to steal by five feet.
Bauer allowed six runs over just 3 1/3 innings in his second-shortest outing of the season, and though the young Indians battled back, they couldn’t recover, with the loss snapping a four-game winning streak.
He outpitched Yankees rookie Luis Severino, who shook off a slow start in just his second major league outing and gave up two runs and seven hits in six innings. “It’s going to be a competitive race”.
The right-hander will have to navigate an Indians lineup that scored 34 runs against Minnesota over the weekend, the club’s most in a three-game series since scoring 37 against Tampa Bay in April 2000.
The offense would go silent from there until the sixth when Abraham Almonte and Lonnie Chisenhall hit home runs with a double and a single, respectively. Miller is 25 for 26 in save situations.
“It seems like it was more runs than we scored in a week, ” he said. “It changes the mood, obviously”.
Aaron Josefczyk/AP Brian McCann bashes a three-run home run as the Yankees break out for eight runs in a win over the Indians in Cleveland on Thursday night. “You see Betances and Andrew Miller coming and that’s no picnic”. But the guys kept playing and we gave ourselves a chance. Bauer retired the next two hitters but fell behind McCann in the count 2-1.
The homer to McCann came on the first pitch Bauer threw after a visit to the mound from pitching coach Mickey Callaway. Tonight’s match also saw the major league debut of prospect Greg Bird. He started at first base as Mark Teixeira got the night off.
“This is a dream come true”, he said. “It’s about the playoffs and the race”. “I don’t feel like I made that many mistakes, but there were a couple I could have corrected”.
Bird, drafted in the fifth round in 2011, began the season at Double-A Trenton. He hit. 301 at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Not only has he been thrust into the middle of a division race, but he was called on Tuesday night to outduel Carlos Carrasco, who has been throwing absolute gems as of late.
-LHP T.J. House (inflamed left shoulder) went on the 15-day disabled list on August. 13. Cleveland rescinded the May 21 option of sending him to Triple-A Columbus.
The Indians (53-60) got a few of those runs back in the bottom of the third inning against Yankees starter Nathan Eovaldi (12-2). (I tried to forget that 19-inning loss to the Red Sox in April, too.) This is the only season in the last 100 years that the Yankees have lost two games lasting 16-plus innings. Wut?!
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Bauer (9-9, 4.35 ERA) released his frustration from Thursday’s defeat as he met with reporters following the game.
