For the first time since September 2022, the Yankees walked it off with the long ball.
The Yankees are in first place and have gotten off to a good start. However, there’s just been something missing. Despite their great record, they’re towards the top in blown late leads and towards the bottom in late-game comebacks. When they go down late, usually after a bullpen collapse, they kinda just go away.
That didn’t happen today. After the Rangers went up 3-1 in the seventh on a trio of solo home runs, the Yankees rallied back with one in the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings to win 4-3, thanks to a walk-off home run by Jasson Domínguez, a signature Yankee Stadium moment for the 22-year-old rookie.
Yarbrough went right to work in the first inning, sitting down the Rangers in order on just 12 pitches, capping it off with a strikeout of Josh Jung. deGrom got the first two out in the bottom half before Aaron Judge worked a walk and Cody Bellinger extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a single. Jasson Domínguez then got to 3-0, but got too aggressive and chased a pair of filthy sliders down-and-in that led to him striking out to end the threat.
Despite a two-out broken bat single by Jonah Heim, Yarbrough struck out a pair in a scoreless second. That single by Heim stung on a cold night in the Bronx, and that hand discomfort got him pulled from the game for Tucker Barnhart. With old friend Kyle Higashioka DHing, rostering three catchers saved the Rangers from putting deGrom in the batter’s box.
Speaking of deGrom, he gave up a leadoff triple to Anthony Volpe on a ball that was nearly caught by Sam Haggerty in center. DJ LeMahieu hit a ground ball to second base that scored him two batters later for a 1-0 lead in the second. That triple was the last Yankees hit for a while.
The emergence of Yarbrough as a viable fifth-starter in the short term has been very valuable. Through 4.1 innings, he was almost untouchable, allowing just two hits with seven strikeouts. The Rangers offense, which had been dormant the entire series aside from the ninth last night, finally emerged with a solo shot by Jake Burger to tie the game.
Yarbrough finished with five one-run innings with eight strikeouts, his most since July 28, 2022 with the Rays. He left with a no-decision, but continued to build the pitch count (81 pitches) and has made himself a viable fifth starter. Did more than enough today.
deGrom had settled in by this point, mowing down the Yankees after getting into jams early. After throwing 56 pitches through three innings, he threw just 30 over the next three. Meanwhile, Jonathan Loaisiga entered for the sixth and got in some two-out trouble. After allowing a two-out single, he got hosed on a missed strike three against Adolis Garcia, leading to a walk. After plunking Marcus Semien, Tim Hill came on to retire Tucker Barnhart with the bases loaded.
Hill started the seventh inning and his recent struggles continued. Despite being a sinker baller that gets a lot of ground balls, Burger barreled up another baseball off of him, giving the Rangers a 2-1 lead. After getting two outs, Boone lifted him for Ian Hamilton, who gave up his third extra base hit in the last 24 hours, a solo shot to Haggerty (his first since 2023). With deGrom rolling, the Rangers now led 3-1.
The Bombers punched back, as the scorching hot Cody Bellinger obliterated a 2-1 fastball for his eighth home run of the season, the first Yankees hit since the second inning. Although the decorated Ranger rolled through the next three bats, the Yankees got within one after seven innings.
Yerry De los Santos came on for the eighth and almost let go of the rope. A Semien single, Burger single, and Joc Pederson walk loaded the bases for Josh H. Smith. Fortunately, he induced a soft groundout to end the inning.
deGrom had finally departed for Robert Garcia in the eighth. After a strikeout to LeMahieu, a pinch-hitting Paul Goldschmidt and Trent Grisham both worked walks to force a pitching change to Luke Jackson. After retiring Rice, Judge got back over .400 with a frozen rope RBI single to tie the game, clocked at 114.4 mph. Grisham was thrown out at third to end the inning, a cardinal sin in this great game.
De los Santos was left in for some strange reason and predictably gave up a leadoff single. Boone’s quest to steal outs had failed and he went to Luke Weaver. With two out, Wells picked off Haggerty after a replay review to send the game to the bottom of the ninth.
In that bottom of the ninth, Domínguez came up with one out and walloped a dreadful 2-0 slider from Jackson into the second deck in right field for a walk-off homer. The most baffling streak in franchise history had finally ended. For the first time since Giancarlo Stanton’s electric walk-off grand slam on September 20, 2022, the Yankees had won via walk-off homer. Every other team has hit one in the past year, except for the Yankees.
The Yankees won their 10th game in their last 13 and clinched another series victory, their fifth in a row. They’ll go for a sweep, weather permitting, tomorrow at 12:35 pm EDT. It’ll be Carlos Rodón against former Yankee Nathan Eovaldi.