HOUSTON — First test, passed. Barely. And another one to come starting Friday night.
The Yankees, who have heard all season about their struggles against teams with winning records — their record reflects that — bounced back from a brutal loss to the Astros on Wednesday with a knee-knocking 8-4 win on Thursday night to take two of three from the AL West leaders.
Ryan McMahon had an RBI single in the eighth and Trent Grisham followed that with a 404-foot three-run blast, his 30th homer of the season and 100th of his career, to make it 8-3.
The Yankees brought that five-run lead into the bottom of the ninth, but with the bases loaded, one out and long-time Yankees-killer Carlos Correa at the plate representing the tying run, David Bednar struck him out on a 3-and-2 pitch before fanning Christian Walker.
That ended a second straight out-of-its-mind game at Daikin Field, one featuring Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. departing with what the club called “contusions” on both knees and more controversy with the umpires, including a ninth-inning bat confiscation after Taylor Trammell’s double.
“This took some months and some years off me for sure,” Aaron Boone said with a laugh, referring to the series. “But a really, really gritty, good performance by the guys, especially as they came back off how emotional last night was and everything in a tough loss.”
The Yankees (78-62), who have won 16 of their last 22 games, will begin a three-game series at the Stadium against the AL East-leading Blue Jays on Friday night. The Yankees trail idle Toronto by three games and inched a half-game ahead of idle Boston for the top wild-card spot.
After Victor Caratini singled, Trammell doubled and Jeremy Pena lined out to open the ninth, Yordan Alvarez made it two straight four-hit games with an RBI single and Jose Altuve walked to load the bases for Correa.
“Not exactly how we drew it up,” Boone said.
As for checking Trammell’s bat, Boone said the Yankees noticed some “discoloration” on the label. “You’re not allowed to do anything to your bat. I’m not saying he was,” Boone said. “We noticed it on video while we were here. We actually mentioned it to the league [today] and they said, ‘No, that looks like an illegal bat.’ So that was it.”
Chisholm, meanwhile, said he felt discomfort in his right knee after going to one knee to field Ramon Urias’ groundout to end the second. The bruise on his left knee came in the third when it was grazed by Altuve’s batting helmet as he slid into second.
Chisholm, who walked with a slight limp in the clubhouse, said testing showed no “ligament” damage or “tears” and believes “for sure” he’ll be able to play Friday
“They feel a little bit better,” he said. “I feel like they’re pretty good right now; I feel like tomorrow they’re going to feel a lot better.”
And then there was the umpiring. After reliever Devin Williams and then Boone were ejected by plate umpire Brian Walsh in Wednesday’s eighth inning because of their complaints about a woefully inconsistent strike zone, the minor-league call-up umpire drew more attention.
Walsh had an egregious miss in the sixth when he ruled that third baseman McMahon failed to catch a soft flare by Altuve. The play came after Alvarez led off the inning against Carlos Rodon, pitching with a 4-1 lead, with a double. Replays showed McMahon clearly made the catch and lost the ball transferring it out of his glove.
Such a play is not reviewable and, after the four umpires conferenced, the call stood and an unearned run scored later in the inning to make it 4-2. Boone, more exasperated than anything, had a brief discussion with Walsh and crew chief Adrian Johnson before returning to the dugout.
It was the upset of the night that Boone, the AL leader in ejections with six and well on his way to leading — or being tied — in that category for a fifth straight season, didn’t get tossed.
“Yeah, that was interesting,” Rodon (16-7), who allowed two runs (one earned), three hits and two walks in six innings, said deadpan. “Obviously, a missed call, [but] it happens. Just move on.”
McMahon, who went 3-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs, also took the diplomatic route.
“In real time, that’s probably a lot harder for those umpires to see,” he said. “More just [ticked] off at myself for not just making sure to keep holding on to it. I got cute, I wanted to look at second to see if we could double [the runner] off. Right there, just have to make sure I squeeze it. I do think I caught it, though.”
Erik Boland started in Newsday’s sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
#Yankees #top #Astros #Trent #Grishams #threerun #fourrun #eighth
