With their 8-6 win in 11 innings over the Royals on Monday night in Kansas City (box score), the New York Yankees became the first team in MLB history to blow four saves in one game and still win. With the unlikely victory, the Yankees have won nine of their past 11 and are 16-7 in the second half. They're also now just two games behind the Red Sox for the second AL wild card spot.
The Yankees on Monday night got six scoreless from the surging Jameson Taillon -- he now has a 1.45 ERA over his past seven starts -- but they weren't able to push across a run of their own until Luke Voit's RBI single in the seventh. Voit, back at first base in place of deadline acquisition Anthony Rizzo, who's on the IL after testing positive for COVID, also homered in the ninth.
The Yankees and Royals traded runs in the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings, and each plated a pair of runs in the 10th. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that made for the first time in MLB history in which both teams scored in the seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th innings. While the automatic runner rule presently in force abetted the run-scoring in the 10th, it's an elusive feat in any context. Along the way, Jonathan Loaisiga, Chad Green, Zack Britton and Clay Holmes all blew save opportunities for New York. As Katie Sharp noted on Twitter, only one other team, the 1995 Astros, ever blew four save chances in a game, but they wound up losing that game.
In the decisive 11th frame, DJ LeMahieu for the Yankees doubled home the automatic runner, and two outs later Brett Gardner was able to plate a pair of runs with an infield single off the face of shortstop Nicky Lopez:
On the fifth and final Yankee save attempt of the night, Wandy Peralta was able to get it done, albeit only after allowing an RBI single off the bat of Edward Olivares. The save was Peralta's third of the season.
A quick glance at the win probability chart, which tracks each team's chances of winning throughout a given game, and you'll glean just how back-and-forth this one was:
New York manager Aaron Boone didn't get to see the finale -- in the seventh, he was ejected for the fourth time this season, this time for arguing a balk call -- but his club is now playing at a 90-win pace. Given that the Yankees were .500 as recently as July 4 that's an accomplishment, particularly in light of the team's health and injury woes.
