New York Yankees Recap: Garrett Jones Home Run In 11th Leads Yanks To 5-3 Win

By Ricky Keeler | Jun 2, 2015

Tonight, the New York Yankees were one strike away from dropping the second game of their three game series against the Seattle Mariners. Then, the unlikeliest of heroes, Stephen Drew, delivered a RBI single to right to tie the game against Fernando Rodney. Two innings later, it would be Garrett Jones‘ turn to have his Yankee moment as he came through with a three-run homer off Joe Beimel to give New York the lead, and ultimately, the win by a final score of 5-3.

The scoring got started in the top of the third inning, with the Yankees getting on the board first. With Brett Gardner on first via a one out walk, Alex Rodriguez would check his swing on a 3-2 pitch from Montgomery and first base umpire Will Little said he did not go around. Seattle manager Lloyd McClendon did not agree with that call or a check swing not called a swing on Gardner earlier in the inning. McClendon went on a tirade and was thrown out of the game along with catcher Mike Zunino.

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Montgomery would end up paying for those two walks when Mark Teixeira hit a double down the left field line that scored Gardner to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. However, C.C. Sabathia would give that run back in the bottom of the third.

Austin Jackson would single to left with one out. Two batters later, Robinson Cano would line a base hit to right, which Jackson would advance to third on due to an error by Carlos Beltran. Seattle would tie the game at one when Nelson Cruz singled to right field to score Jackson. Sabathia would strike out Kyle Seager to hold the M’s to one run in the inning.

While Sabathia was solid tonight, Seattle did have nine hits against him. However, give the Yankees’ left-hander credit for getting his way out of trouble in some key situations. In the fifth, Seattle had two on and no out after a Jackson single (his second of four hits) and Willie Bloomquist reaching base on Chase Headley’s 12^th error of the season.

Even though Sabathia was facing the heart of the order, he got Cano and Cruz to fly out to center and Kyle Seager bunted the ball to Sabathia, who made the out at first to get out of the inning unscathed.

Seattle would take the lead in the bottom of the sixth inning. With runners at the corners and two outs after singles during the frame from Logan Morrison and Welington Castillo, Joe Girardi went to David Carpenter to face Jackson after 94 pitches from CC. That decision would backfire when Jackson hit a RBI double to center field on a 3-2 pitch that scored Morrison to make it 2-1 Seattle.

Overall, it wasn’t a bad game for Sabathia. He went 5.2 innings, gave up two runs on nine hits, struck out six batters, and walked two in the no-decision. He was not as good as Montgomery. The Seattle rookie, who was acquired back in March from the Rays for Erasmo Ramirez went six innings, gave up one run on four hits, struck out four batters and walked two in his debut, but failed to get the win.

Even down by a run, the Yankees had their chances, but made simple baserunning mistakes. After Didi Gregorius led off with a pinch-hit single to center, John Ryan Murphy followed up with a single of his own. However, Gregorius would slip on the basepaths and got thrown out by Cruz as he tried to go back to second base.

On defense, New York made three errors tonight. Those errors were by Beltran, Headley, and reliever Jacob Lindgren, who dropped a throw from Teixeira in the eighth inning on a groundball by Morrison.

In the ninth, New York would mount their comeback against Fernando Rodney. Chase Headley led off the inning with a walk. Three batters later, Brian McCann would pinch hit for Murphy and single to left center. With runners at the corners, Stephen Drew tied the game with a RBI double down the right field line. It was Rodney’s third blown save of the season.

After Dellin Betances and Justin Wilson kept Seattle off the board in the ninth and tenth, New York would mount a two-out rally in the 11th. After Drew singled to right and Gardner doubled to left, Jones, who came in for Chris Young in the eighth, would hit a 2-0 fastball over the wall in right center for a three-run home run against lefty Joe Beimel. His second of the season put the Yankees up 5-2.

In the bottom of the 11th, Andrew Miller would come in and run into some trouble. With two outs, Cano would cut the lead to 5-3 with a RBI single to left that scored Castillo. Miller would face Cruz as the winning run, but would strike him out swinging with a slider to secure his 16th save of the season.

Wilson (2-0, 4.58), who made an excellent catch on a bunt by Rickie Weeks to set up a double play in the tenth, got the win, while Tom Wilhelmsen (1-1, 2.63) took the loss for Seattle.

Next Game: The New York Yankees (28-25) will go for the sweep Wednesday afternoon against the Seattle Mariners (24-28). You can catch the game at 3:40 PM ET on YES. Masahiro Tanaka (2-1, 3.22) will make his return to the Yankees rotation against Taijuan Walker (2-5, 6.18).

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