As reporters approached Raul Ibanez’s locker after the Yankees’ heart-stopping 10-9, 14-inning roller coaster of a victory over the A’s yesterday, clubhouse neighbor Ichiro Suzuki light heartedly asked him a quick question.
“How do you do it?”
The 40-year-old Ibanez was the Yankees’ biggest hero in their remarkable triumph. He smacked a double and two homers, including the afternoon’s most dramatic hit — a two-run game-tying long ball in the bottom of the 13th inning that capped the Yankees’ comeback from a four-run deficit.
Ibanez did all of this coming off the bench, first entering the game as a pinch hitter and ultimately affording the Yankees as terrific a performance by a reserve as James Harden could deliver for the Oklahoma City Thunder. No Yankee had hit at least two homers after entering a game as a pinch hitter since Steve Balboni on May 23, 1990, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
“You can’t say enough of what [Ibanez] did,” manager Joe Girardi said.
Ibanez entered the afternoon in an 0-for-18 rut, but in the fifth inning, he was asked to bat for Casey McGehee against righty Jim Miller, and promptly blasted a solo shot to right, giving the Yankees a 5-4 lead.
With the game tied 5-5 in the 12th, Ibanez drilled a one-out liner into the right-center gap, and, under normal circumstances, it would have been a gamble to try to make it a double. Aware the A’s were in a deep, no-doubles defense, though, Ibanez headed for second and beat the throw.
“I just took the risk,” he said, “and tried to get the winning run to second base and it worked out.”
Ibanez, who has 17 homers, was then thrown out at the plate when he tried to score on a grounder by Russell Martin. Despite crashing into A’s catcher Derek Norris, Ibanez couldn’t knock the ball loose, and the game remained tied.
Ibanez saved his best for an inning later. The Yankees entered the 13th down 9-5, but cut it to 9-7 and had a man on second with one out when Ibanez came up against righty Pat Neshek. On a 3-1 sinker, Ibanez clobbered a two-run bomb into the second deck in right.
Asked where it ranked among his all-time homers, Ibanez politely replied, “I’m not really good at that.”
Either way, it was a clutch blast. And a monster game.