ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Dressed in a T-shirt, shorts and shower shoes, CC Sabathia filled up the door frame his teammates moved through on the way to the clubhouse at Tropicana Field.
One by one, they exchanged high fives and fist bumps with the veteran lefty, who delivered his best performance of the season.
When the line seemingly ended, Sabathia loitered in the doorway, waiting for the hero of a pulsating 4-1 Yankees victory over the Rays, witnessed by 11,940 Monday night.
“Do it, Slade,’’ Sabathia yelled at Slade Heathcott as he approached the door.
Heathcott and Sabathia swapped handshakes and then embraced each other with sternum-crunching hugs as music filled the room behind them.
“If you looked at our dugout, it was definitely the biggest hit of the season,’’ Sabathia said of Heathcott’s opposite-field, three-run homer off closer Brad Boxberger in the top of the ninth with two outs. “For him to hit a ball [opposite field] like that is amazing.’’
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Heathcott’s second big league homer combined with Alex Rodriguez’s RBI double in the ninth that tied the score 1-1 and Sabathia’s 6 ²/₃ shutout innings enabled the Yankees to cut the Blue Jays’ AL East lead to three lengths with 19 games remaining.
By now you know Heathcott’s story of a rough childhood in Texarkana, Texas, and substance abuse battles as a minor leaguer after being the Yankees’ first-round pick in the 2009 draft. How injuries led to surgeries that resulted in the Yankees dropping him from the 40-man roster this past offseason. How he finally made it to the big leagues in late May, only to go down with a strained right quad.
Yet, in his first big league at-bat since May 27, the soon-to-be 25-year-old left-handed-hitting outfielder delivered the biggest Yankees hit of the season.
“None this year,’’ Heathcott said when asked how many opposite-field homers he has hit. “A couple, not a lot.’’
Heathcott, who was recalled Saturday from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, wasn’t alone in the improbable victory that went to Caleb Cotham, who bagged his first big league win. Andrew Miller fanned three in the ninth for his 33rd save in 34 attempts.
“It’s been a tough year,’’ said Sabathia, who has eight no-decisions in the previous nine starts and pitched very well in his second game back from the disabled list and a right knee problem that has been partially corrected by adding a bulky brace. “To have a good start, especially now, will help me build.’’
Without a hit off Erasmo Ramirez until Carlos Beltran smoked a ball off first baseman Richie Shaffer’s body leading off the eighth, the Yankees appeared to have something going in the ninth when pinch-hitter Dustin Ackley singled off Boxberger. But Jacoby Ellsbury’s hard-hit grounder to Shaffer turned into a double play, and suddenly it looked as if Sabathia’s gem was going to be wasted.
Brett Gardner drawing a four-pitch walk was followed by him stealing second base and scoring on Rodriguez’s double to right-center. Boxberger intentionally walked Brian McCann to get to Heathcott, who entered the game to play right field in the eighth inning.
“It’s fun watching a young kid like that,’’ Rodriguez said. “It’s a big signature Yankee moment.’’
Betting on the Yankees to pass the Blue Jays and win the AL East isn’t the way to go, but if that happens, nobody has to look any further than Monday night’s improbable victory, delivered in part by the most unlikely name.