A year ago Sunday, the smoke was thicker and the mirrors weren’t scratched as the baseball world wondered how a very banged up Yankees team was a dozen games over .500.
Now the smoke is thinner and the glass has some deep scratches, but because the AL East is the home office for mediocrity, the Yankees aren’t bottom-feeding.
After Saturday’s improbable 4-3 victory in 10 innings over the White Sox with an announced crowd of 33,413 watching at U.S. Cellular Field, maybe the smoke thickens and the mirror gets new glass.
“Obviously it was a big win for us,’’ said Jacoby Ellsbury, who singled and scored in the three-run ninth when the Yankees erased a 3-0 deficit against closer Ronald Belisario and homered off Zach Putnam in the 10th.
Ellsbury’s second homer of the season and first in 81 at-bats gave David Robertson a 4-3 lead one night after he flushed a save for the first time this season.
“[Friday] night was tough. We got a lead and I wasn’t able to nail it down,’’ said Robertson, who gave up a two-run, ninth-inning homer to Adam Dunn in the 6-5 loss. “[Saturday] was the same thing and I am not going to let them down.’’
Robertson fanned the first two batters, gave up a single to Adam Eaton, who stole second, and caught Gordon Beckham looking to seal the win and post his 10th save.
The ninth-inning rally came after John Danks held the Yankees scoreless in eight innings, allowing three singles. With the left-hander in the game, the Yankees had two runners get into scoring position.
Even after Danks left, it didn’t look good for the Yankees. Derek Jeter opened the ninth with a ground out, Ellsbury singled and Mark Teixeira struck out looking. With Ellsbury on second via defensive indifference, the ice-cold Alfonso Soriano doubled into the right-field corner to score Ellsbury.
With Belisario ahead 1-2 to Yangervis Solarte, the Yankees were down to the last strike, but Solarte’s single to left plated Soriano and it was a one-run game. Brian McCann tied the score with a jam shot single to center that scored pinch-runner Kelly Johnson.
The three-run rally allowed Vidal Nuno to spit out a loss he wouldn’t have deserved.
“I was up in the zone in the first half of the lineup,’’ said Nuno, who gave up three runs and three hits in the first inning, two hits but no runs in the second and went seven innings. “It was unbelievable how we came back.’’
After the first frame, Nuno blanked the White Sox across the next six.
Matt Daley and Matt Thornton handled the eighth and Dellin Betances, who just might be the best pitcher in the majors at this point, worked a perfect ninth when he fanned two of three batters. Betances’ 49 strikeouts lead all MLB relievers and opposing hitters are batting an anemic .153 (15-for-98) against him.
Ellsbury’s homer got the game to Robertson, who never has relied on smoke and mirrors to succeed.
“I thought I hit it a little too high,’’ Ellsbury said of the homer to right that didn’t clear the wall by much.
A 25-23 record in late May doesn’t provide the Yankees with a license to begin printing postseason tickets, but with a lineup that is hitting .211 (48-for-227) and averaging 3.5 runs in the last six games (2-4), smoke and mirrors might be the Yankees’ best chance..