KANSAS CITY – A couple hours before Wednesday night’s game, Joe Girardi was asked which relievers he had available following the previous night’s rain-soaked, extra-inning affair.
“It will be interesting to find out,” Girardi said, unable to answer the question.
Turns out he had more than enough as the Yankees used six of their seven relievers to hold off the Royals before Brian McCann snapped the tie with a sacrifice fly in the 13th, lifting the Bombers to a 5-4 win at Kauffman Stadium.
Chasen Shreve, Tommy Layne, Adam Warren, Blake Parker, Ben Heller and Dellin Betances combined for seven no-hit innings as the Yankees blanked the Royals over the final 10 frames after Luis Cessa had allowed four runs by the end of the third.
“The bullpen was tremendous tonight,” Girardi said. “Really, really good.”
“Shreve started it off and set the tone for us,” Adam Warren said. “You just try to build off that momentum and try to throw strikes. Everybody was calm under pressure.”
Didi Gregorius started the winning rally with a leadoff single, moving to third on Starlin Castro’s double against Chris Young before lefty Matt Strahm came into the game to face McCann.
“I was trying to be short to the baseball and get the run in, try to put something out in the outfield,” McCann said. “Whether I got a hit or not, I was just trying to get that run in with a sac fly.”
Heller threw a scoreless 12th to earn his first major-league win. Betances bounced back from Tuesday’s blown save to earn his seventh save of the season despite putting the tying run on base with a leadoff walk.
“It just shows you, there’s a toughness in there and these guys really want it,” Girardi said after watching his team win its second extra-inning game. “I’m proud of their effort these last two nights; long nights, quick turnaround. Some guys who struggled early on really came up big.”
The Yankees have won seven of their last eight series, including a season-high four straight on the road. They finished August 17-11, leaving them six games over .500 for only the second time this season.
They now stand only 2.5 games out of the second American League wild card spot, which is now shared by the Tigers and Orioles after Detroit caught Baltimore in the standings Wednesday.
The Yankees (68-64) will resume their pursuit of a playoff spot Friday in Baltimore, kicking off a huge three-game set against the Orioles. Of the Yankees’ final 30 games, 27 are against American League East teams.
“Guys have kept believing, kept playing hard,” Chase Headley said. “We’re really starting to come together and play well. It will be nice to have a breather tomorrow, but it starts right back up in Baltimore Friday.”
Making his third big-league start, Luis Cessa gave up four runs in the first three innings, allowing homers by Kendrys Morales and Eric Hosmer.
“I was struggling with my command of my fastball,” Cessa said. “After the third inning, I tried to be focused on the target and the glove. I just kept working to execute the pitches and thought I did a nice job the last couple of innings.”
Ian Kennedy was cruising against his former team through four innings, allowing only two hits while retiring 12 of the first 14 batters.
They finally got to Kennedy in the sixth as Ellsbury singled, Sanchez walked and Teixeira flied out, putting runners at the corners with one out. Gregorius put the Yankees on the board with a sacrifice fly, but it was Castro’s two-run blast to left-center that served as the big blow of the inning, pulling the Yankees within a run.
“He’s been really big for us,” Girardi said.
Cessa pulled it together after his shaky start, sitting down nine of 10 Royals from the fourth through the sixth.
“He found his stuff a little bit better the fourth inning,” Girardi said. “He was able to get through six which I thought was really important considering we thought our bullpen was a little short – not knowing we were going to go 13.”
The Yankees tied the game in the seventh, starting the rally when Hicks drew a one-out walk. Scott Alexander took over and gave up a single by Gardner, setting up Ellsbury’s sac fly.
Fresh off his clutch 10th-inning performance Tuesday night, Shreve started the seventh for the Yankees. He issued a leadoff walk to No. 9 hitter Raul Mondesi, but after a sac bunt moved the runner to second, Shreve caught him trying to steal third to take the go-ahead run off the bases.
Shreve threw a perfect eighth, striking out Hosmer and Salvador Perez to move the 4-4 game to the ninth.
Hicks left the game in the ninth with a right hamstring strain after pulled up lame while running to first base.
Layne and Warren combined for a scoreless ninth, while Parker took over in the 10th and posted a pair of zeroes, stranding runners at second and third to end the 11th.
But the Royals bullpen held the Yankees hitless after Ellsbury’s game-tying sac fly, retiring 13 of 14 as the game moved to the 12th.
The Yankees had a chance to take the lead in the 12th as Headley led off with a single and stole second. One out later, Brett Gardner hit a single to right field, but third-base coach Joe Espada threw up a stop sign for Headley, who watched helplessly as Paulo Orlando’s throw home sailed over Drew Butera’s head.
“Obviously it looks bad when the throw is as bad as it is, but he got the ball before I was touching third,” Headley said. “He’s got a good throwing arm, we had the heart of the order coming up, Gary is swinging and Tex was coming up, so he thought that was the right decision.”
The Royals chose to intentionally walk Jacoby Ellsbury to load the bases for Gary Sanchez, but Sanchez hit a bullet at third baseman Cheslor Cuthbert, then Mark Teixeira hit a rally-ending grounder to shortstop, stranding the go-ahead run at third base before the Yankees scored an inning later.
“Those are probably two of the best wins I remember all year – against a club that’s playing really well,” Headley said. “This is the world champions from last year and they’re hot, they’re playing great. Our relief pitching was outstanding. We had four, five, six different guys step up and really throw well.”
