The New York Yankees won their first game against the Seattle Mariners and went into last night’s game without a starting pitcher to face Marco Gonzalas. Instead, the Yankees relied on the bullpen to get them through an eleven-inning game. But the Yankees found a way and won the game 3-2 in the 11th inning due to a walk-off single by the oldest tenured Yankee, Brett Gardner.
The largest crowd enjoyed the exciting 11 inning game the Yankees have played in front of this season. 43,180 fans jammed Yankee Stadium as their team has found new life in its chase of a 28th World Championship.
3 up 3 down, 8 to come!
Wandy Peralta started last night’s game throwing eleven pitches and going 3 up and 3 done in a quick first inning. Little did Peralta, the Yankees, or fans know that it would take 9 pitchers to win the Yankees game last night and six of the last seven games.
With no starting pitcher available to start last night’s game, the New York Yankees asked the bullpen to provide 9 innings of work; they did that pitching for 11 innings. It was a herculean effort that played out magnificently. If the Yankees had lost last night’s game, it would have been a devasting blow to a bullpen that did everything asked of it.
Giancarlo Stanton and 4 multihit games
Aaron Judge drove in the first run off the game in the eighth inning for the Yankees. Before that, the New York Yankees could do nothing against the Seattle starter Marco Gonzales. Gonzales had one of his best games of the season. Although no home runs, Giancarlo Stanton had a big impact on the game, having his 4th multi-hit game in a row.
The Yankees only had 6 hits in the eleven inning game, but Giancarlo Stanton had two of those hits, and they were impactful. After the Yankees tied it and had hoped to pull ahead, Stanton hit into an all too familiar double play ending the inning. The Mariners tied it up in the ninth, forcing the 10th inning in which they retook the lead. But in the bottom, Stanton hit a weak single to right, driving in Gardner to tie up the game at 2 apiece and forcing the eleventh inning.
Brett Gardner still can contribute
Fan-favorite, yet the lowly Brett Gardner didn’t start the game for the Yankees last night, but he did finish it for the Yankees with the 9th walk-off win of his long-tenured career. Gardner is the only holdover from the 2009 World Series-winning team.
Gardner came very close to not being a Yankee in the 2021 season, but in the end, he was signed up for another year. It has been a year where he has not been very productive, to put it lightly. His batting average entering last night’s game was just .197. Yet, even though he had not been hitting, he hasn’t lost a step in the outfield, still making spectacular plays.
Last night he had redeemed himself to many Yankee fans. Pinch-hitting for Davis late in the game, he got a hit and scored two of the three Yankees runs. And that one hit was a single at the bottom of the eleventh, driving in ghost runner Joey Gallo for the Yankee win.