Just when it looked as if the Yankees had squeezed everything out of their season they possibly could — and every bit of production from Alex Rodriguez — they found a way to extend their season one more day.
It was Rodriguez, hobbled and mired in a slump, who hit the decisive grand slam in the seventh inning to spark a 5-1 victory over the Giants on Friday night at the Stadium.
Coupled with CC Sabathia’s best performance in months, the Yankees were able to come up with a much-needed win that still may have come too late.
Nevertheless, Sabathia said he hopes they give it a shot, three games back in the wild-card race.
“It’s time to go,” Sabathia said. “And you try to win out.”
The left-hander said he believes the Yankees have a nine-game winning streak in them.
“Of course,” Sabathia said. “Why couldn’t we? Anything can happen. We’ve got the guys in here. You saw what happened [Friday night]. Just keep playing with them.”
They will need more performances like the one they got from the two veterans.
Having dropped five of their last six to end what had started as a promising road trip, manager Joe Girardi said he knows what the Yankees are up against as they opened a final homestand, hoping to make one last run at the postseason.
“I don’t know how many more we can afford to lose,” Girardi said.
Rodriguez, who hit his 24th grand slam to break Lou Gehrig’s all-time mark, made sure they didn’t.
He entered his seventh-inning at-bat in a 1-for-25 slide before drilling a George Kontos cutter over the wall in right-center.
“I saw I was 1-for-24, or 1-for-25, whatever it was, but I felt for the most part I’ve been swinging the bat decently,” Rodriguez said. “One swing can turn a lot of things around.”
“Vintage,” Sabathia said. “It felt good to see him do that, and have a big moment — and it won us the game.”
It was the second homer for the Yankees. Alfonso Soriano hit an opposite-field shot of his own to lead off the bottom of the second — his first homer since he suffered a sprained right thumb last week diving for a ball in Baltimore.
Sabathia gave the lead back in the next inning, but settled down after that, surrendering just one run over seven-plus innings to improved to 14-13.
After David Robertson pitched a scoreless eighth, Mariano Rivera came in and finished it off in the ninth in a non-save situation.
“I don’t want to get in a situation where a couple of guys get on and then I have to bring him in,” Girardi said of using Rivera with a four-run lead. “We’ve got an off-day Monday, so I figure I can use him three days in a row.”
Girardi would like to have that chance, and the Yankees’ seventh-inning rally was a major reason why he might.
Eduardo Nunez started the bottom of the inning by grounding a single through the right side of the infield. After Lyle Overbay struck out, Nunez stole second on a questionable call.
Lincecum (10-14) followed by hitting Brendan Ryan with a pitch, bringing up J.R. Murphy. The catcher ripped a grounder toward third, where Pablo Sandoval made a nice stop and got Nunez on the forceout.
Ichiro Suzuki then walked to the load the bases and Lincecum was removed for Kontos, a former Yankees prospect.
Rodriguez wasted no time making the Giants pay. He has been slowed by a bothersome left hamstring and right calf — not to mention two bad hips — but finally returned to form Friday.
Despite the win, the Yankees need a multitude of breaks in order to legitimately consider themselves back in the playoff race.
But they have been written off before, only to continue to come back and remain in the conversation.
Now, at 81-73, the Yankees have eight games remaining to make some other teams have to work for a playoff spot.