The Yankees broke the bank on free agents in the offseason, but it was one of their newest acquisitions who delivered among the most significant hits of the year on Friday night.
Martin Prado, brought over from the Diamondbacks right before the trade deadline, smacked a game-winning single with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth to give the Yankees a 4-3 win over the White Sox in The Bronx.
“I can describe that as one of the biggest moments of my career,” said Prado, who also hit a two-run homer in the third inning. “Not personal-wise. Just getting a win for the Yankees means a lot for anyone.”
Especially for the Yankees, who won their second straight with their season on life support.
“This was the biggest win of the year, for sure,” Brett Gardner said. “At this point, we’ve got to win every game we have a chance to win. I thought this was a game we had to win.”
A victory seemed unlikely when the Yankees fell behind 3-0 just three batters into the game, after Shane Greene surrendered a three-run homer to rookie phenom Jose Abreu.
But Greene settled down to pitch into the sixth and the Yankees got four scoreless innings from the bullpen, including 1 ¹/₃ innings from Shawn Kelley, who came in with two on and no outs in the sixth and didn’t allow a run to score, as well as David Robertson (2-4), who shook off the game-winning, three-run homer he gave up to Chris Carter in a loss to Houston on Tuesday.
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Robertson’s rough outing was followed by another bullpen implosion in another loss to the Astros on Wednesday.
And what had looked to be a season-saving homestand against a pair of struggling teams was turning into a disaster for the Yankees.
But Brandon McCarthy tossed a gem on Thursday and now the Yankees would like Friday’s dramatics to give them even more of a boost.
“We sure hope so,” Joe Girardi said. “We need it to.”
They need a few things to happen, sitting 3 ½ games behind the Mariners for the second AL wild-card spot, with the Tigers also ahead of them.
But Friday was certainly a positive step.
After tying the game in the fifth, the Yankees squandered a golden opportunity to take the lead later in the inning.
With runners on second and third and no outs, Mark Teixeira hit a check-swing grounder to first, so Derek Jeter stayed at third.
Prado struck out and Brian McCann flied to the track in right to end the threat.
But that hardly seemed to matter after the win.
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Ichiro Suzuki started the game-winning rally with a leadoff single and was bunted to second by Gardner.
Jeter lined out to center on a ball that looked as if it might drop.
The White Sox chose to walk Jacoby Ellsbury intentionally to bring up Teixeira, but Webb walked him, as well.
And Prado came through again.
After fouling off Webb’s first three pitches, Prado fought back to a full count before hitting a 97 mph fastball back up the middle.
“He went from 0-2 to 3-2 and got a pitch he could do something with,” Robertson said. “Not a lot of guys can do that.”
The Yankees are still learning what Prado is capable of doing — he already has played second, third and right field since joining the team on Aug. 1.
“There have been ups and downs,” Prado said of his time in pinstripes. “I’ve left the past behind me.”