Yankees Show They're Not Dead Yet
BALTIMORE - Despite the emotional toll of Friday's doubleheader sweep at the hands of the Baltimore Orioles, the Yankees were still alive in the chase for one of the two wild cards in the American League Saturday, at least technically.
They were five games back with only 16 to play entering their game here Saturday against the leaders of the A.L. East. The odds were long and the skepticism of the fans high, but their manager said they had conceded nothing.
The day before they lost the first game in 11 innings and were shut out in the second. They scored one run in 20 innings and struck out 25 times. But the season did not end, not yet.
'I don't think you have any other choice, but to keep fighting,' Joe Girardi said before the game. 'Other teams are having their issues and, why not? You run off a streak and you're back in it. Yesterday was physically a hard day and emotionally and mentally a hard day, but this team has bounced back before and I expect them to do it.'
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Yankees 8, Rays 5; Mets 2, Rockies 0: Yankees and Mets Both Win, but Are on Outskirts of Wild-Card RaceOn Saturday they did. They beat the Orioles, 3-2, behind a strong performance from the rookie starting pitcher Shane Greene, a clutch save by David Robertson and some innovative scoring methods. With their offense general stalled and unproductive all season, the Yankees resorted to clever ways of producing a run, like stealing home.
With two outs in the second inning the ex-Met Chris Young, the recent addition who has been the Yankees' best player the past week, was on third base after he doubled to right. Antoan Richardson followed that with a single, putting runners at first and third with one out.
Zelous Wheeler struck out, but with Jacoby Ellsbury at the plate, Richardson sole second base. As soon as he broke and Orioles catcher Caleb Joseph threw to second base, Young took off for home, and beat the return throw back to Joseph.
That extended the Yankees lead to 3-0. Brian McCann started the inning with a home run and Mark Teixeira walked and scored on Richardson's single.
The Orioles scored in the third when Nick Markakis, who had singled, came home from second on a base hit up the middle by Nelson Cruz.
Greene set down eight straight batters, striking out five, before Steve Pearce's bases-empty home run with one out in the sixth. That signaled the end for Green, who allowed two runs and seven hits in five and one-third innings, and struck out nine.
The Orioles had a runner in scoring position with one out in the seventh, but Josh Outman got Markakis and Alejandro De Aza to end the threat.
The Orioles put the potential tying run at third base in the ninth inning after Jimmy Paredes, who had the winning hit in the 11th inning of the first game on Friday, opened the ninth inning with a single off Robertson. Paredes was sacrificed to second and went to third on a groundout by Delmon Young.
With the crowd standing in anticipation, Robertson got Markakis to bounce out to Martin Prado at second, and he flipped to first base for the final out.
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