ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Can a game played in April earn the privilege of being called critical?
When your pitching staff was filleted in the previous two games and your third starter was found to have a torn ligament in his throwing elbow, it’s easier to understand the feeling in the Yankees’ clubhouse before Easter Sunday’s game against the Rays at Tropicana Field.
So, when the Yankees scored four runs in the 12th inning to escape with a 5-1 win over the Rays in front of 26,462, they weren’t shy about admitting the importance of it.
“After the last two games we were a little flat,’’ Dean Anna said. “It’s a huge momentum swing to get the win and carry it to Boston for sure.’’
When the Yankees beat Rays ace David Price, 10-2, Thursday evening, there was every reason to believe they could take three of four from the light-hitting Rays. Instead the Rays raked the Yankees’ hurlers for 27 runs in the next two games.
“They are all big games in this league,’’ Brian McCann said.
Of the 11-8 Yankees’ first 19 game, none were larger.
Had they lost, the Yankees would have flushed a wonderful pitching performance by starter Vidal Nuno and five relievers.
Thanks to a bases-loaded walk by Anna in the 12th, a two-run single by Carlos Beltran and Alfonso Soriano’s bloop single, the fine hurling didn’t go to waste.
Inserted into the game in the 11th inning after Ichiro Suzuki ran for Derek Jeter, Anna watched Rays manager Joe Maddon intentionally walk Jacoby Ellsbury with first base occupied.
“There is a little chip, walking somebody to get to you,’’ Anna said. “You have to do something.’’
Facing lefty C.J. Riefenhauser, who appeared in his second big league game, the lefty-swinging Anna fouled off two pitches with the count at 2-2. The next two sliders were out of the strike zone and forced Brett Gardner home.
Beltran and Soriano followed with hits and the Yankees got out of the depressing dome with a split.
“That’s a big win,” Joe Girardi said. “The way we won the first game the way we did and then really get beat up the next two days — we leave here, 2-2, and got a day off [Monday] and try to get ready for the Red Sox, I thought that was important.”
Not only did it take a dozen innings to decide, the marathon included two replay decisions that went against the Yankees. Brett Gardner could have been awarded an inside-the-park homer in the fourth when right fielder Wil
Myers caught his drive off the wall. It was initially called out, but overturned. Gardner never stopped running and thought he had a homer, but the same umpires who got the call wrong in the first place decided to put Gardner at second.
In the 11th, Ichiro was called safe stealing second, but a replay viewing ruled he was out.
Having used David Phelps, Matt Thornton, Adam Warren and closer Shawn Kelley, Girardi turned to Preston Claiborne to start the 11th even though the right-hander joined the club Sunday morning from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Claiborne responded with two scoreless frames for the victory.
“It felt great,’’ said Claiborne, who struggled in spring training and failed to make the Opening Day roster. “It was certainly an adrenaline pump.’’
There is no denying that all 162 games carry the same weight. However, there are times in the elongated season when one victory feels a little bigger than others. Sunday, that was the way the Yankees felt as they escaped with a split.