Yankees rally to beat A’s with help from two catcher’s interference calls
The Yankees have now completed 23 comeback victories this season, but none have come like this, and it’s a relatively safe bet that no matter what happens over the next four months, no more will again.
“I don’t think so,” Josh Donaldson said, asked if he’d ever been a part of a rally sparked by two catcher’s interference calls. “I think that was a first for me.”
But whether by their own sheer power, as was the case twice against the Astros, or by whatever you call what happened in the seventh inning on Monday, these Yankees have a way of finding a way. A 9-5 win over Oakland that moved their record to a jaw-dropping 54-20 is merely the latest evidence of what we already knew to be true.
This comeback, though, did not reach its crescendo by dint of a home run, but by a rally that started in Little League fashion. Down 5-3 in the seventh, four straight Yankees reached base on a walk, catcher’s interference, a hit by pitch and a second catcher’s interference, to score a run that seemed better fit for the smaller field across the street from the Stadium.
The Yankees’ first hit of the inning came on Josh Donaldson’s two-run double — which handed them a 6-5 lead.
“I don’t know if catcher’s interference is resourceful or fortunate,” manager Aaron Boone said.
“We believe in our ability to score runs,” Donaldson said. “So we really never felt we were out of the game.”
Donaldson, along with Giancarlo Stanton, came around to score on Jose Trevino’s double, which made it 8-5 and put a bow on Oakland’s collapse. By the time Trevino himself had scored on a Marwin Gonzalez single, the linescore for the seventh looked like this: six runs, three hits and two errors.
“Obviously,” Donaldson said, “catcher’s interference is unique. But we’ll take it any way we can.”
A five-run third inning for Jordan Montgomery looked as if it would be the Yankees’ downfall, as the A’s batted around, the bulk of the scoring coming on Elvis Andrus’ bases-clearing, three-run double. Andrus himself would score when Sheldon Neuse singled him in one batter later.
Montgomery eventually worked out of the jam and plowed onwards, saving the Yankees’ bullpen from a long night with 6 ¹/₃ innings, six strikeouts and no blemishes outside of the third inning. His eventual steadiness also set the stage for the comeback.
That began with Stanton homering in the fourth and Aaron Judge hitting an RBI single to score DJ LeMahieu in the fifth. The Yankees’ first run had come on an Anthony Rizzo solo shot in the first inning, his 20th of the season, though he eventually left the game after taking a pitch to the right elbow.
“Now all of a sudden we’re right there in striking distance,” Boone said. “And then obviously the big inning occurs.”
And so, after a split series against the Astros when two feel-good wins overshadowed what could have been a damper of a weekend, the Yankees avoided the questions that began to creep into the mind midway through Monday night.
Instead of dropping three of four games for the first time since May 22-23, the Yankees remain a steady ship with their second straight victory and a 54-20 record that invites no question other than how many days remain until October.
Afterwards, club lights and music blared in the Yankees’ clubhouse until it eventually had to be turned down for reporters to speak with players. This is a team that knows what it is, and feels good about it.
“We just compete night in and night out,” Rizzo said. “I think when we’re in the dugout, we know that. It’s good. Whatever gets thrown at us, we respond really well to.”
