Yankees 2, White Sox 1: Walk-Off of Pain

Not that we’re going to lose sleep over it, but news came out before the game that Aaron Hicks is having left wrist surgery and will be out most of the season, continuing the New York Yankees ongoing injury woes.

Something fun for the White Sox though: José Abreu played his 1,000th game as a member of the White Sox (hey, look! ESPN is pretending it has White Sox coverage!).

Love to see it! Too bad we didn’t win it.

Carlos Rodón was on fire to start the first. He went struck out the side, bringing down DJ LeMahieu, Aaron Judge, and Luke Voit all while throwing 12 pitches (max velo during that side: 96 mph, whoo).

The last pitch had Judge confused as hell:

And so we buckled down into a good ol’ fashioned pitchers’ duel. But there was a bit of a hiccup in the third, that made it look like the game was going to get away from the White Sox.

Miguel Andujar hit a line drive to right for a single that was just a touch over Madrigal’s head. Brett Gardner managed to double off of two errors by Madrigal, where he dropped a ball and threw past Abreu into the wall, moving Andujar to third. When LeMahieu grounded to first, though, Abreu used that opportunity to cut down Andujar at the plate with a throw to Zack Collins that was on point. A strikeout of Voit got the White Sox out of the third.

Outside of that, score stayed put at 0-0. The bottom of the seventh brought in Michael Kopech ... and a home run from Gleybar Torres. Jason noted that new Yankee Stadium is the only place in MLB that it would be a home run (due to outfield dimensions). He’s not wrong; it only went 345 feet. If Danny Mendick was a wee bit taller, he’d have gotten it. The tie was over, and the Yankees were up, 1-0.

Adam Eaton was subbed for Danny Mendick and led off the eighth with a walk. He managed to move to second on a wild pitch during Tim Anderson’s at-bat. Anderson then grounded out to advance Eaton to third, and a single into right by Madrigal brought Eaton in to score, and tie the game, 1-1. Abreu grounded out to short to bring an end to the White Sox offense.

A shaky series of pitches from Kopech in the bottom of the eighth had Andujar on first with a liner to right. He was subbed for Tyler Wade on the base paths, who then reached second on a passed ball on Yasmani Grandal (who was subbed in for Zack Collins in the seventh). A liner by Gardner got Wade to third. Evan Marshall was brought in and Wade was destined to be gunned down at home when LeMathieu grounded to Anderson. A line out to third had the White Sox rolling into the top of the ninth, where some things happened.

Yep, the ninth is really where it all fell apart.

The Yankees brought in Aroldis Chapman, who has the honor of being the first player disciplined under the MLB/MLBPA domestic violence policy, to close things out. Chapman walked Yermín Mercedes, and Billy Hamilton was brought in to pinch-run. Leury García advanced Hamilton to second and was safe at first when García’s bunt resulted in an error on Chapman (who somehow forgot how to pick up a baseball). With no outs and two on in scoring position, Andrew Vaughn came up — and hit into a triple play.

Yup. I’m not detailing that part, because it’s going to be literally everywhere in baseball news.

In the bottom of the ninth and for reasons defying true understanding, Marshall was still in despite the fact that Liam Hendriks is paid a lot of money for these exact situations. Marshall faced Judge, who singled to center on a line drive. Judge was advanced to second by a Gio Urshela single. Then Torres singled to left and Judge scored, giving the Yankees a walk-off in what many are calling a preview to the ALCS.

Long way to go, though.

Tomorrow has Dylan Cease and Gerrit Cole facing off at 12:05 p.m. CDT, and I will not be recapping for you — so the game will definitely go better than tonight.

[Point of order, this loss drops Colleen to just 5-2 on the season, so forgive her poormouthing.—Brett]

Leigh Allan has the recap tomorrow, with Jeremy Karll on the Six Pack of Stats.

Random Game Things

• Is it me, or do the Yankees players all look alike?
• What in the world is that stupid “roll call” fans do before each game, and what can we do to stop it, because, man, that’s annoying.
• When the Twins are playing Cleveland, I’m rooting for a meteor to hit the stadium. My enemy of my enemy is still my enemy.
• Aaron Judge is 6´7´´ and looks like he doesn’t have to step too high to make it over the right-field wall, so either he’s really tall or the wall is really short (turns out, a little bit of both). Stand all the Yankees outfielders next to each other and you have a Yankee bar chart.
• The Yankees built a new stadium and this is what they came up with?