CLEVELAND — After learning All-Star ace Masahiro Tanaka landed on the disabled list with an undisclosed elbow problem, the Yankees rode the muscles of Mark Teixeira and Jacoby Ellsbury and the latest sensational bullpen effort to victory over the Indians Wednesday night.
Down by three runs after one inning, the Yankees — in Brandon McCarthy’s pinstriped debut — came back to cop a 5-4 win in 14 innings, that took 4 hours and 51 minutes to complete before 21,727 at Progressive Field.
Teixeira hit two homers, the 37th multi-homer game of his career, and drove in three runs.
Ellsbury crushed a 0-2 cement-mixer slider over the right-field fence with two outs and the bases empty in the 14th.
“It was a huge hit by Jake,’’ manager Joe Girardi said. “It was a long night and a good win. That’s a tough game to lose either way.’’
Carlos Beltran suffered two fractures in his nose during a freak pre-game batting practice and was scratched from the lineup.
The victory enabled the Yankees to move within three games of the AL East-leading Orioles, who lost to the Nationals.
Acquired Sunday from the Diamondbacks for Vidal Nuno, McCarthy allowed four runs (one earned) in 6 ²/₃ innings. Then seven relievers didn’t let the Indians score.
After David Huff walked the bases loaded with one out in the 10th, Shawn Kelley fanned Nick Swisher and stranded three by retiring David Murphy on a grounder to shortstop Brendan Ryan.
“We feel he’s starting to get going,’’ Girardi said of Kelley, who went 1 ²/₃ innings. “At the end of the last homestand, we felt he was getting back.’’
Chase Whitley, who was moved to the bullpen to make room for McCarthy in the rotation, threw two innings and got the win. He is 4-2.
Thanks to a sensational catch by left fielder Zoilo Almonte, David Robertson posted his 22nd save in 24 chances with a scoreless ninth.
Jason Kipnis singled with one out in the 14th and stole second. Asdrubal Cabrera struck out and Michael Brantley appeared to have fouled out to end it , but Kelly Johnson failed to make an over-the-shoulder grab. Brantley then hit the ball well over Almonte’s head but the outfielder who was called up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre earlier in the day made a catch with his back to the plate.
“It looked like it had a chance,’’ Girardi said of Brantley’s hit that would have been a game-tying double. “It was a nice catch.’’
“I just got lucky,” Teixeira said. “I put a couple good swings on some pitches but I haven’t been really been swinging the bat too well. It’s a good day to get two homers because we needed it.”
“The only thing we can do is play hard and don’t feel sorry for ourselves, that’s all you can do. We needed it, a win was good.’’
Ellsbury, who went 3-for-7, tipped his hat to the bullpen.
“That felt good. I thought Mark was going to hit three, but it felt like it was going to take a home run to get a run across,” Ellsbury said. “The bullpen pitched unbelievable. These ones are always tough when you lose them.”
When the Yankees acquired McCarthy from Arizona Sunday, one of the reasons they liked the right-hander with an abysmal record and obese ERA was because he pitched into the late innings.
A rotation that housed Whitley and Vidal Nuno hadn’t done enough of that, and the bullpen was overworked because of it.
Huff was summoned from the bullpen after Adam Warren retired Asdrubal Cabrera leading off the 10th and walked the bases loaded.
Girardi called for Kelley to face Nick Swisher, who drove in two runs in the first inning and was 3-for-12 with two homers and five RBIs in the three games against his former team.
Kelley fanned Swisher and left the bases loaded by getting David Murphy on a ground out.
Additional reporting by Kevin Kernan