Tyler Austin launched one out to right field, and was soon launching his helmet into the air – right before he jumped into a giddy pile of Yankees teammates.
The rookie’s two-out, ninth-inning solo homer off Erasmo Ramirez gave the Yankees a sudden 5-4 win against the last-place Tampa Bay Rays before 27,631 fans at Yankee Stadium.
With their fifth straight win, the Yankees moved to within two games of the idle Orioles for the final AL wild-card spot and within four games of the AL East-leading Red Sox.
“I’ve told you we expected to win from Day One, so there’s going to be disappointment if we don’t get to where we want to get,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said before the game of his new-look, young team.
Teamed again with Yankees starter CC Sabathia, catcher Brian McCann clubbed two solo home runs. But Kevin Kiermaier and Steven Souza Jr. each hit two homers apiece for Tampa Bay.
Sabathia gave up solo home runs in each of the first three innings, and rookie Jonathan Holder bailed him out of trouble in the fifth.
After the first two batters reached on singles, Holder got Evan Longoria to rap into a double play. And the Yanks were further spared when umpires reversed a balk call with a runner at third – keeping the Yankees’ 4-3 lead briefly intact.
In his shortest start of the season, Sabathia yielded three runs on seven hits in four innings.
In his second MLB start since rehab from Tommy John surgery, Rays right-hander Alex Cobb gave up four runs – three earned – on nine hits in six innings. Neither starter walked a batter.
McCann’s homers came in his first two at-bats off Cobb.Souza Jr.’s second homer of the night was a two-out, sixth-inning solo shot off Holder that tied it at 4. But the Rays couldn’t be faulted for believing that Souza’ Jr.’s shot should have been the go-ahead run.
An inning earlier, Holder appeared to have balked home the tying run – only to have the call reversed by plate umpire and crew chief Mike Everitt.
With Logan Forsythe at third base and two out, Holder appeared to come set twice, making a second motion with his glove hand. Everitt called a balk and Forsythe crossed the plate.
Girardi emerged from his dugout and asked Everitt to convene with the other three umpires, a request that was granted. After a quick conference, Everitt ordered Forsythe back to third base.
Rays players raised their arms in disbelief in their dugout, and Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash had a lengthy but calm chat. When play resumed, Holder got shortstop Alexei Ramirez to ground out.
Ramirez entered in the second inning, replacing Brad Miller, who was drilled in the right elbow by a Sabathia first-inning fastball. Kiermaier’s homer in the first inning and Souza Jr.’s homer in the second tied it at 2. The Yanks had briefly taken a first-inning lead as Brett Gardner and Jacoby Ellsbury opened with singles and moved into scoring position on Gary Sanchez’s weak groundout.
Cleanup hitter Didi Gregorius slashed an RBI single to right, scoring Gardner. And Ellsbury scored from third base moments later, when Cobb’s low pickoff throw struck a sliding Gregorius and bounded away.
Kiermaier’s leadoff homer in the third tied it at 3. It marked the first time all season that Sabathia had surrendered three home runs in a game.
Before Sabathia threw his first pitch on Thursday, Girardi defended the veteran lefty, calling him “probably” the most “victimised” member of his rotation when it comes to “bad luck,” whether it be a lack of run production, an untimely misplay or a poorly-located pitch at a pivotal moment.
“He’s given us an opportunity to win a lot of those [close] games,” Girardi said of Sabathia, who would figure to be in the Yankees’ 2017 rotation.
“I don’t want to look ahead to tomorrow let alone next spring,” Girardi said, not making any promises. But as a power pitcher who had struggled to transition into more of a finesse lefty, “I think he understands who he is a lot better than maybe he did a year or a year-and-a-half ago.”