ST. PETERSBURG – As the ball jumped off Robinson Cano’s bat and started to climb toward Tropicana Field’s roof, you could hear the Yankees’ dugout begin to exhale.
By the time the ball was well into its final approach into the right-field seats, streams of oxygen were spewing onto the field.
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Manager Joe Girardi said he kept Cano out of the starting lineup because he had played every game, not because of his anemic batting average. But when Girardi needed a pinch-hitter for Alberto Gonzalez in the eighth inning with the score tied after his bullpen had flushed a five-run lead in the previous frame, the manager turned to perhaps the Yankees’ best pure hitter.
“I wanted to get a swing,” Cano said of his approach to Al Reyes. “If I get something to drive I can hit it out.”
After the ball plopped down, the Yankees had a one-run lead and were six outs from not having to answer questions about Billy Traber and Brian Bruney blowing Ian Kennedy’s first win on a night Alex Rodriguez went 4-for-5 with his 521st career homer, and Johnny Damon and Morgan Ensberg also homering.
Even though Bruney served back-to-back homers in the seventh that tied the score, Girardi gave him a chance at redemption by letting him start the eighth.
The choice was easier since Joba Chamberlain was in Nebraska with his ill father, Harlan, and Kyle “The Mop” Farnsworth was an alternative, though he worked Sunday and warmed up Saturday.
Bruney got the first two outs and Mariano Rivera posted the following four to save an 8-7 victory that included the return of Derek Jeter and was witnessed by a crowd of 18,872, none of whom were named Steinbrenner.
“The team needed it more than Robbie,” said Rodriguez, who tied Hall of Famers Willie McCovey and Ted Williams for 15th place on the all-time home-run list more than two months before he turns 33.
“[Cano] will hit well over .300 and be on the All-Star team.”
Cano is batting .185 this Morning, and maybe his biggest hit of the young season will ignite him.
“I hope it’s a good start for me,” said Cano, who is a 9-for-18 (.500) as pinch-hitter with three homers and four RBIs. “I feel good at the plate and mechanically I feel good. But I am not doing good the way I am supposed to.”
The Yankees needing Cano to win the game for them was an indictment on Traber and Bruney. Traber took over for Kennedy in the seventh when the neophyte starter took a Jason Bartlett liner off the right hip and left the game limping.
Traber recorded an out in front of giving up a two-run homer to Carl Crawford. Traber then hit Carlos Pena with a pitch and Girardi went for Bruney.
At 0-2, Bruney challenged B.J. Upton with a fastball and watched in horror as the pitch that was supposed to be up – where Rivera fanned Upton to end the game – traveled down into Upton’s happy zone.
“I wanted it up and it jerked down,” said Bruney, who gave up a key RBI single to Kevin Youkilis Saturday on a 0-2 fastball that wasn’t away enough. “Obviously, I am flying open and the balls are running across the bats.”
With the lead at 7-6, Bruney went to a full count against rookie stud Evan Longoria. Again, he went with a fastball that is well above average on the speed guns. Yet, it misbehaved.
“It was supposed to be away and it came back and he got a hold of it,” Bruney said of the majestic drive to left that tied the score until Cano allowed the Yankees to exhale.