Yankees escape with win over A’s on game-ending triple play
When Aroldis Chapman threw a 1-0 fastball to Sean Murphy, with two on, no outs and a one-run Yankees lead hanging in the balance Sunday afternoon, Gary Sanchez kept his expectations realistic.
“We were just trying to get Strike 1 there,” Sanchez said.
Chapman had walked the first two batters of the inning on nine pitches, with a broken middle fingernail causing him command issues. But Sanchez was hoping for a strikeout of Murphy, then a double play to end the game.
The Yankees expedited that game plan instead.
Chapman got Murphy to hit a ground ball to third base, where Gio Urshela fielded it and shuffled over to the bag to start a triple play — the Yankees’ third of the season — which secured a 2-1 win over the Athletics at Yankee Stadium.
“Things worked out better than I expected,” said an understated Sanchez, who had put the Yankees in position to win it with a two-run double in the sixth inning.
The victory delivered the Yankees (38-33) a series win against an A’s (44-29) team that came into The Bronx with the second-best record in MLB. It also marked the Yankees’ fifth win in their past six games, coming from behind each time to chop in half what was a season-high nine-game deficit in the AL East last Monday.
Two more triple plays have also helped their cause. After their first of the season came on May 21 (another 5-4-3 started by Urshela in the ninth inning before a walk-off in the bottom of the frame), the Yankees turned an unconventional 1-3-6-2-5-6 triple play Thursday in Buffalo.
Sunday’s was simpler — Urshela to DJ LeMahieu to Chris Gittens — but the most clutch of them all as they became the eighth team in the modern era to turn three triple plays in a season
“You can tell this to someone and they probably won’t believe it,” said Chapman, who crouched over in front of the mound as the crowd of 27,807 roared upon the triple play’s completion. “They would need to see it to believe it.”
Manager Aaron Boone and a trainer had paid Chapman a visit after the closer walked Tony Kemp on four pitches to put runners on first and second. Chapman wanted to stay in, and Boone gave him a shot.
“I just told him to throw the sinker for the three-ball and let’s get on with it,” Boone quipped after the third game-ending triple play in franchise history, according to YES Network.
The Yankees trailed 1-0 after the first inning, when Jordan Montgomery allowed a solo home run to Matt Olson, but Sanchez stayed red-hot to put them ahead in the sixth.
Following walks by Clint Frazier and Aaron Judge — the first two of the day by A’s starter Sean Manaea, who struck out 11 in 5 ¹/₃ innings — Sanchez crushed a double to the gap in right-center field to make it 2-1.
“It’s definitely good to have the old Gary back,” Montgomery said.
After going 2-for-3 with two doubles Sunday, Sanchez is now batting .344 (22-for-64) with six doubles, six home runs, 14 RBIs and a 1.127 OPS over his last 20 games.
“Just watch the at-bats, the competitiveness every pitch,” Boone said. “He’s on time. Making really good decisions. Doesn’t always mean you’re going to get results, but it’s not an accident now that he’s getting really good results because he’s in the fight every pitch now. He’s under control. He’s balanced. When those things happen, his talent comes out.”
The Yankees needed some more late magic to make sure Sanchez’s clutch hit proved to be a game-winning one, but Chapman and his infielders got the job done.
“Seeing all the fruits of that hard work feels great,” Sanchez said. “But today’s a team victory all around. I couldn’t win the game by myself. It’s a credit to everybody for doing the right things to help us win this game today.”