![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
|
07/16: Swisher Walk Off Single Makes Winner of Rivera
Posted by: David
Nick Swisher came through all night long for the Yankees on Friday night in the Bronx. The game was extremely emotional for the players and fans as before the game the Yankees had ceremonies to honor the passing of long time public address announcer Bob Sheppard and "The Boss" George Steinbrenner.
The Yankees fell behind early as a throwing error from A-Rod led to the Rays scoring a first inning run. The Rays added another run on a two out double from Evan Longoria. It looked like the best play would have been to walk Longoria, but the Yankees pitched to him and it cost them a run. Swisher got his first hit of the night with a sharp single to right to score Brett Gardner and pull the Yankees to within a run at 2-1. The Rays extended the lead to 3-1 as Sabathia was not at sharp as he was during his last eight wins. James Shields was cruising for the Rays and had the Yankees off balance all night with his change up. However, Robinson Cano and Jorge Posada hit back to back home runs to tie the score in the middle of the game. Sabathia gave the lead right back, but limited the damage to one run as the Rays loaded the bases with no outs. It was then Swisher time again as he connected off stellar set up man Joaquin Benoit to tie the score at four. Rivera entered in the ninth and was unlucky to start the inning as he sawed the bat off in the hands of B.j. Upton but the shards from the bat was heading toward A-Rod and it distracted him from making the catch an the ball fell for a lead off single. Mo then picked off Upton and got All-Stars Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria to end the inning. Crawford flied out to shallow right an Longoria was caught looking. The Yankees were set up for a walk off. Curtis Granderson led off with a single off Randy Choate and was sacrificed to second by Ramiro Pena. Brett Gardner battled out a walk before Derek Jeter struck out for the second out. Swisher then delivered with his third hit of the game and his third RBI to win the game for the Yankees with a sharp single to right. Gabe Kapler threw to home but Granderson just slid in safely ahead of the tag. With the win Rivera is now 3-1 on the season and his ERA was lowered to 1.02. The Yankees extended their lead in the AL East to three games over the Rays. Tomorrow should be just as emotional with the celebration of Old Timers Day. CommentsNo comments yet. Add CommentREAD BEFORE COMMENTING: Participation constitutes agreement to our User Guidelines, which are stricter than most other blogs', so please read them before commenting. No advertising (posting links to your site), inflammatory (flaming) remarks, vulgarities (any kind of profanity that you can imagine) or questions about our guidelines or comment deletions. We generally try to maintain a family friendly atmosphere here. Please keep this in mind. A few common examples:
Please note that all comments made on entries that are at least 14 days old are moderated. |
|
![]() |