Brian McCann's double and Aroldis Chapman's dominance give Yankees extra innings win

The Yankees came into Saturday afternoon’s contest with the Cleveland Indians fresh off an all-out beatdown at the hands of Corey Kluber and the Indians in a 10-2 loss. Looking to rebound, the Yankees went up against All-Star pitcher Danny Salazar, with CC Sabathia on the hill. Although Sabathia did not have his best stuff, neither did Salazar. ‘No Run’ DMC was not perfect as Dellin Betances gave up the lead, but the Yankees got 1.2 huge innings from Andrew Miller and 2.1 shutdown innings from Aroldis Chapman to lock up a victory after an RBI double from Brian McCann in the top of the 11th.

Photo Credit: Ron Schwane | AP

Cleveland opened up the scoring in the bottom of the first after capitalizing with runners in scoring position on a Carlos Santana single. The Yankees would come storming back in the third inning putting up three runs. Carlos Beltran laced an RBI single to right field to score Brett Gardner. Didi Gregorius – hitting in the five-hole today – then came through with a line shot out of the yard for his 11th home run of the season, a two-run shot, to give New York a 3-1 lead.

But that two run cushion did not last long as shutdown innings for Yankee pitchers do not seem to exist in 2016. The Indians stormed right back with three runs of their own in the bottom of the third inning. A Jason Kipnis walk followed by a Francisco Lindor single had the Tribe in business as Mike Napoli kept the rally going with an RBI single. Carlos Santana then doubled to tie the game at three, and Jose Ramirez drove home Napoli to give Cleveland a 4-3 advantage.

That score would hold until the sixth inning. The Indians pushed Salazar to a pitch count over 100 which is where he began running himself into trouble. After two quick outs, the Yankees got back to back singles by Chase Headley and Rob Refsnyder to put pressure on a fatiguing Salazar. Alex Rodriguez then pinch hit for Aaron Hicks and he walked on a 3-2 count in an incredible at-bat where he got ahead, worked the count, and ultimately walked on a close pitch. Salazar was then lifted for Dan Otero who was welcomed by Brett Gardner. Gardner slapped a triple into the left field corner which scored all three runners and put the Yankees out front 6-5.

Ramirez continued his solid afternoon at the dish in the seventh inning tying the game up on an RBI single off Dellin Betances. Didi Gregorius made a game-saving play diving for a ball up the middle and flipping to Starlin Castro covering second for the force out to keep the score deadlocked at six.

With the score tied, Andrew Miller came on for the eighth. He allowed a leadoff double to Abraham Almonte but escaped any further damage which prompted Joe Girardi to send him back out for the ninth inning. A single and a walk lifted Miller from the game in favor of Aroldis Chapman. Chapman escaped a jam and dominated the Indians from there.

Beltran singled to right field with two away in the 11th inning and was taken out of the game as Ronald Torreyes came on to pinch run for a slow Beltran. The following hitter, McCann, drove a double to right field which scored Torreyes and put the Yankees ahead for good, 7-6.

Chapman allowed a leadoff walk to Kipnis but then picked him off as he was trying to steal second base. He would then sit down Napoli on strikes to end the game.

Winning pitcher: Aroldis Chapman (3-0): 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K

Losing pitcher: Tommy Hunter (2-2): 1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 K

Notables

Brett Gardner: 2-5, 3B, 3 RBI

Carlos Beltran: 3-6, 1 RBI

Brian McCann: 3-6, (go-ahead) 2B, 1 RBI

Didi Gregorius: 1-5, HR (11)

Francisco Lindor: 3-6, 2B, 2 R

Jose Ramirez: 3-5, 3 RBI

Article by: Chad Raines

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