The Yankees thought they had crafted a Hollywood ending in the top of the ninth inning on Thursday with a pair of two-run homers from Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton to overcome a three-run deficit to take a one-run lead.
But playing in a stadium built on the set of the “Field of Dreams” in Dyersville, Iowa, Tim Anderson and the White Sox flipped the script in the bottom of the inning, as Anderson crushed a game-winning, two-run homer off Zack Britton with one out to send the Yankees to another crushing loss, 9-8.
“Definitely not the way you want it to end,’’ Stanton said.
After Judge and Stanton’s dramatic blasts into the cornfield beyond the outfield fence, the Yankees seemed set up to win for the eighth time in 10 games, especially when Britton got pinch-hitter Danny Mendick on a groundout to start the inning and then got ahead of No. 9 hitter Seby Zavala, 0-2.
But Britton ended up walking Zavala to bring up Anderson, who belted an opposite-field homer to end the night.
Aaron Boone went with Britton despite the fact the left-hander has not been sharp for much of the season after battling COVID in the offseason and then undergoing elbow surgery during spring training.
But the manager has insisted Britton’s stuff has been better lately and he was coming off an effective performance in Kansas City on Wednesday.
Anderson’s blow will no doubt add more questions about Britton’s status, especially with Jonathan Loaisiga pitching as well as he has.
Both teams waxed poetic about the event at the stadium built for the game to honor the film, with actor Kevin Costner on hand.
And the game lived up to the billing — even if it was spoiled for the Yankees.
“That ruined it a little bit, honestly,’’ Boone said of the finish.
“The fans came to see a show and we gave them a show,’’ Anderson said.
He put an exclamation point on it, with his no-doubter in the ninth.
“Once I made contact, I knew it was over,” Anderson said. “I knew it was out. I gave everybody a memory.”
Including another one the Yankees wish they didn’t have.
Asked about their propensity for suffering brutal losses, Boone said, “This one doesn’t rank up with some of the other ones, frankly. A good team got us. They were the last one standing. We’ll move on from this one like we have.”
Perhaps, though they haven’t been able to move on from third place in the AL East since May and are still chasing a wild-card spot.
The Yankees had seemingly overcome another bad start from Andrew Heaney, who gave up three more homers.
The left-hander has given up eight homers in his three starts with the Yankees since coming over in a trade from the Angels. He’s also allowed 15 earned runs in 15 innings.
After DJ LeMahieu led off the game with a single up the middle following an eight-pitch at-bat, Lance Lynn retired the next eight batters — four by strikeout.
Heaney gave up a two-out solo homer into the cornfield in left to Jose Abreu in the first.
Judge hit an opposite-field three-run homer to give the Yankees a 3-1 lead in the third, but Chicago answered with an RBI double from Anderson and a three-run home run by Eloy Jimenez that made it 5-3 in the bottom of the inning.
Zavala took Heaney deep for a two-run homer in the fourth to put the Yankees in a 7-3 hole.
With the Yankees’ bullpen depleted, Heaney stayed in the game as the offense tried to get back in it.
Brett Gardner led off the sixth with a line shot into the corn in right to make it 7-4.
The Yankees had second and third with one out, but Michael Kopech whiffed Luke Voit and Rougned Odor to end the threat.
And after loading the bases with two out in the seventh, Joey Gallo grounded out.
The ninth-inning fireworks appeared to save the Yankees before they got burned by Anderson.