Add Juan Miranda to the list of players who have gotten walk-off hits — and pies to the face — for the Yankees this year.
Miranda’s single that ricocheted off former Yankee Kyle Farnsworth drove in Eric Hinske and gave the Yanks a 4-3 win over the Royals for their seventh victory in a row.
Though Miranda was a September call-up and spent most of the season with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, he knew about the Yanks’ penchant for late-game dramatics and the ensuing messy celebration.
“I was pretty excited about it,” Miranda said through interpreter Ramiro Pena after the game-winner and the requisite post-game dessert. “I saw all those moments on TV. I was waiting for it, but I never thought it would be me.”
That changed when the Yankees tied the game at 3-3 with Robinson Cano’s sacrifice fly that knocked in Francisco Cervelli. Hinske, who pinch-hit for Pena, followed with another single, then stole second and went to third on catcher John Buck’s errant throw.
Farnsworth, who entered to boos from the crowd, intentionally walked Damon with two outs in the ninth, leaving Miranda — a defensive replacement at first in the ninth — for the final at-bat.
“We wanted to make the young kid beat us,” Royals manager Trey Hillman said.
That’s what he did.
“It seems like a different guy every time,” said Hinske, who had been given the green light by Joe Girardi. “There’s a couple more games until the playoffs and we want to keep the momentum going.”
They did it with their 50th comeback win and 15th of the walk-off variety.
“I think a lot would be five or six,” said Hinske, who was not surprised the hero was Miranda. “He had a lot of RBIs in the minor leagues. He’s shown he can hit and hit that ball pretty hard up the middle.”
Miranda had 82 RBIs for SWB, but clearly none were sweeter for him than last night’s.