Single by Yankees' second baseman wins it in the bottom of the ninth
Bullet point recap of last night's game:
*After back-to-back singles by Alejandro De Aza and Carlos Sanchez to lead off the game, Jose Abreu hit his 33rd homer off of Yankees starter Shane Greene. The ball just barely cleared the fence and the glove of a leaping Brett Gardner.
*Martin Prado got two runs back for the Yankees in the bottom of the fourth. With Jacoby Ellsbury aboard, Prado crushed a two-run homer to left on a grooved 86 mph fastball from John Danks. Danks now leads the American League with 24 home runs allowed.
*Jacoby Ellsbury tied the score for the Yankees in the bottom of the fifth with a hard-hit line drive to right that went for a double. The Yankees had a great chance to add more runs, but Avisail Garcia made a nice leaping catch on a deep drive by Brian McCann to end the threat.
*In the top of the sixth, a potential violation of Rule 7.13 came up again. With Conor Gillaspie running home, Brett Gardner tried to gun him down from very shallow left field. The throw caused Francisco Cervelli to move into Gillaspie's path to catch the ball. Cervelli received the ball well before Gillaspie's arrival and Conor was called out. Robin Ventura challenged the play on plate-blocking grounds, but the ruling on the field held up.
*John Danks left the game in the bottom of the sixth after a leadoff walk to Chase Headley. He threw 92 pitches. Ronald Belisario and Zach Putnam combined to cover the sixth, seventh and eighth innings without incident, allowing just two baserunners.
*Daniel Webb had a rough go of it in the bottom of the ninth. After giving up a leadoff single to Ichiro Suzuki, he retired Brett Gardner on a sacrifice bunt and Derek Jeter on a lazy line drive to center. With Suzuki now on second base, Ventura called for the intentional walk of Jacoby Ellsbury to bring up Mark Teixeira. Teixeira drew a walk, which loaded the bases for Martin Prado. On a full count, Webb pretty much had to throw a fastball and Prado smacked it up the middle to win the game. It was Prado's 15th career walk-off hit.
*Carlos Sanchez batted second in his first game in Gordon Beckham's place and did very well, going 3-for-4 with three singles.
Record: 59-69 | Box score | Play-by-play | Highlights