Mark Teixeira kept the Yankees from being smothered in embalming fluid with a rare home run. Two batters later, Chase Headley lifted the same type of hanging splitter from Koji Uehara into the right-field seats for a game-winning homer in the ninth inning.
“It’s a huge win, you feel kind of like you stole one,’’ Teixeira said after the two solo home runs carried the Yankees to a 5-4 victory over the Red Sox in front of 44,708 at Yankees Stadium on Thursday night.
The victory enabled the Yankees to remain four games behind the Tigers for the second AL wild-card ticket.
Trailing 4-3, going into the ninth and having had just three baserunners since a three-run third when Derek Jeter provided a two-run double, the Yankees made the most of Uehara’s hanging splitters.
“Until there were two strikes, I was trying to hit a home run,’’ said Teixeira, who was in a 3-for-26 (.115) funk and hadn’t homered in 56 at-bats when he sent a 2-2 pitch high in to the air. “Once it got to two strikes, I was trying to hit a line drive to left. He hung a splitter in the middle of the plate.’’
Teixeira’s team-leading 21st homer only tied the score, but it gave the Yankees a pulse. After Uehara retired Brian McCann, the right-hander went to a full count on Headley.
“You have to try and get him up in the zone. He has such good separation on the velocity from the split and fastball,’’ Headley said of the pitch everyone in the ballpark knew it was a game-winning homer as it left the bat.
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After scoring three runs in the third to tie the score 3-3, the Yankees didn’t score again until Teixeira homered.
Two outs away from losing two of three to the dreadful Red Sox and having to answer questions about their fading postseason hopes, the Yankees provided a flicker of life that a chance remains to avoid a second dark October.
“Hopefully piece some more wins together here and other teams can assist by stumbling little bit,’’ general manager Brian Cashman said. “That’s our hope, but we’ve made it hard on ourselves. I don’t know what our chances are. All I know is win our games.’’
As clutch as Teixeira and Headley were, starter Chris Capuano had no trouble identifying the reason the Yankees had a chance in the ninth: the pitchers who followed him after he left in the fifth.
“They were the MVP of the game,’’ said Capuano, who gave up two homers to David Ortiz and one to Brock Holt.
Asked where he was in the ninth, Capuano said, “I was on the [dugout] rail hoping for a miracle.’’
He got one, but Rich Hill, Esmil Rogers, Josh Outman, Shawn Kelley and Adam Warren were the reason it was a one-run deficit going to the ninth.
Who knows where the victory leads. The Yankees haven’t consistently hit all season, so it’s a reach to believe that suddenly they are going to get hot. Yet, the names who haven’t matched the games could be due to get hot at the most important time.
“We are going to stay in it as long as we can,’’ Teixeira said.
That could be a week or until the final weekend of the season in Boston.
“To win a series in this fashion, you don’t [usually] hit two homers off one of the best closers in baseball,’’ Teixeira said.