Aaron Judge’s game-ending sac fly, Anthony Volpe’s terrific slide lead Yankees to stunning comeback win over Mariners
Aaron Judge’s game-ending sac fly, Anthony Volpe’s terrific slide lead Yankees to stunning comeback win over Mariners
“Happy to definitely steal a win there, especially after the great start [Woo] had,” Judge said. “I knew [Volpe] was at third, so the whole thought going into it was get the ball somewhere in the air and let ‘11’ take care of the rest.”
With their fourth straight win, the Yankees (52-41) improved to 2-6 in extra-innings games this season and 1-35 when trailing after eight innings. This one was also unique in that they became just the second team since 1961 to win a game after going hitless and trailing by at least five runs through seven innings, according to Elias Sports Bureau.
“That’s a great start to spoil for us,” said Giancarlo Stanton, who provided a jolt with a pinch-hit, two-run homer in the eighth inning. “Never too late till the last out. That was a big win for us.”
Devin Williams retired the Mariners (48-45) in order in the top of the 10th inning to give the Yankees a chance to walk it off in the bottom of the frame.
After Oswald Peraza popped out on a bunt attempt leading off the bottom of the 10th, Paul Goldschmidt pinch-hit for Jasson Domínguez against lefty reliever Gabe Speier and was intentionally walked. That brought up Trent Grisham, who battled for a full-count walk to load the bases for Judge.
“Definitely thinking game over, for sure,” said Marcus Stroman, who gave the Yankees a chance by tossing five innings of two-run ball. “That’s Cap. It’s kind of what he does. … Incredible throw by J-Rod out there and then a sick, sick, sick slide by Volpe. It’s an incredibly fun group to be a part of.”
Woo shut down the Yankees for seven innings, coming six outs away from throwing the ninth no-hitter against them in franchise history before Chisholm finally got them off the schneid with a leadoff single in the eighth inning.
“It felt like we were getting dominated tonight, frankly,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Even 2-0 down, it felt like a little bit more than that. It just had that feel to it tonight. But baseball’s funny like that. The guys didn’t give up, no quit, just keep grinding at-bats.”
Ben Rice followed with a hard single up the middle and then Wells got the Yankees on the board with a sacrifice fly that made it 5-1.
One out later, Stanton crushed a two-run shot — the first pinch-hit home run of his career in his 58th plate appearance as a pinch-hitter — off reliever Matt Brash to make things interesting at 5-3.
Then in the ninth, facing All-Star closer Andrés Muñoz, the Yankees loaded the bases with two outs on singles from Grisham and Cody Bellinger and a walk by Rice.
Down to his final strike, Wells ripped a single to right field to tie the game at five.
Stroman, who tweaked his quad trying to cover first base in the fourth inning but stayed in the game, left with a 2-0 deficit. Clayton Beeter made things more challenging in the seventh by walking two batters and then giving up a three-run homer to Jorge Polanco on an 0-2 pitch.
But the Yankees proved to be up to the task for their biggest comeback win of the year.
“It was probably one of the better wins we’ve had, starting that down in the game,” said Wells, who shook off a temporarily numb left wrist in the sixth inning after a pitch in the dirt hit him on the bone. “It shows the versatility we have. We’ve shown we can go big early in games and we can come back late. I think it’s a total team effort, too.”









