ST. LOUIS — “Overtime on the road” has become an oddly soothing phrase for these 2014 Yankees.
For the third time on this Midwest trip, the Yankees prevailed in extra innings Monday. A great play by Brett Gardner, a bold stolen base by Jacoby Ellsbury and a big hit by Brian Roberts keyed the team’s 12-inning, 6-4 victory — their third straight — over the Cardinals in front of an announced 47,311 fans at a sold out Busch Stadium.
“Feels like we play extra innings every day,” Roberts said. “To win three of them is pretty good. I think it speaks to our bullpen and how we’ll they’ve pitched.”
That, too, although the Memorial Day winning pitcher Alfredo Aceves benefited from great defense far more than from his own pitches.
The Yankees defeated the Cubs in 13 innings at Wrigley Field 4-2 on Wednesday, and they outlasted the White Sox in 10 innings at U.S. Cellular Field 4-3 on Saturday. Overall, the Yankees are 4-0 on the road in extra innings this season — and 0-1 at home, oddly enough.
While the two long wins in Chicago both required ninth-inning comebacks, this time the Yankees kept pace with their hosts following a 61-minute weather delay for the first pitch, with three runs off young Cardinals stud Michael Wacha, rookie Chase Whitley providing his third straight solid start and Preston Claiborne, Matt Thornton and the meteorically rising Dellin Betances teaming for four innings of shutout ball. Aceves took over in the 10th and quickly got help from Brendan Ryan at his least comfortable position, first base, as he speared a hard grounder by Kolten Wong and turned it into an inning-ending, 3-6 double play.
“I don’t know if the ball caught me or if I caught it,” Ryan said.
That proved the mere opening act, however, for Gardner’s heroics in the 11th. With one out and a runner on first, Cardinals All-Star catcher Yadier
Molina crushed a towering shot to left field. Gardner leapt over the wall to catch it, robbing Molina of a likely walk-off blast, and Allen Craig popped out to Ichiro Suzuki in right field to extend the contest into the 12th.
“I learned from Ichiro,” Gardner said. “I thought it was a play I should’ve made.”
He redeemed himself, too, for misplaying a Matt Holliday sixth-inning blast — seemingly catchable — into a double that sparked a game-tying, two-run rally.
“I thought it probably saved the game,” Roberts said of Gardner’s catch.
When long-ago Yankees lefty reliever Randy Choate took the mound for the 12th, Ellsbury drew a walk and, with the count 0-and-2 on Brian McCann, stole second against the ultra-respected right arm of Molina.
St. Louis manager Mike Matheny unsuccessfully challenged umpire Larry Vanover’s call via replay.
“As a base-stealer, I look forward to stuff like that,” Ellsbury said of going against Molina.
Choate subsequently hit Brian McCann in the posterior with a pitch, and Yangervis Solarte bunted his teammates over to second and third. The Cardinals opted to intentionally walk Ichiro, who hits lefties well, to load the bases and go after the switch-hitter Roberts, who was 1-for-4 lifetime against Choate.
“You try and be selective and find something good to hit,” Roberts said.
He connected on an 0-and-1 sinker and grounded a single to left field, bringing in Ellsbury with the tiebreaking run. Alfonso Soriano (sacrifice fly) and Ryan (single) added insurance RBIs against Choate’s successor, Jason Motte.
“They keep playing,” Girardi said of his team’s extra-inning prowess. “They never give at-bats away. It’s a team that expects to win every day.”
For sure, it’s a team that doesn’t mind sticking around to complete its task.
“It’s a grind, but we’ve been playing pretty well,” Gardner said. “We seem to really stay focused once we get into extra innings. We’ve got a great back end of the bullpen. Guys really do a really good job stepping it up and holding the other team down, giving us a chance to score some runs. Great win.”
And if the Yankees can keep up their improved play against the excellent Cardinals, they’ll have themselves a great trip, albeit a long one.