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The 2016 Major League Baseball season is about halfway done. The All-Star Game is coming up. Fans are starting to see mid-season roundups get published. They will talk about the good and bad about this season so far. However, this one is about the most important moments of the season: the weirdest games of the Yankees’ season so far.
5. June 14: Yankees 10, Rockies 13
With the Yankees down 12-3 headed into the eighth inning, the game looked over. However, the game was being played in Coors Field, so it wasn’t quite over yet. In the top of the eighth, the Yankees rallied thanks to a huge Rockies meltdown, scoring seven runs and cutting the deficit to just two runs. However, Andrew Miller then allowed a home run in the bottom of the eighth, and the Yankees couldn’t complete the comeback, falling 13-10. After this game, the Yankees and Rockies had identical records.
4. June 18: Yankees 7, Twins 6
After getting shut out for six innings by Ricky Nolasco, Carlos Beltran led off the seventh with a single. Alex Rodriguez followed that with a home run, making it 4-2 Twins. In the eighth, Beltran hit a two-run home run of his own, tying the game. In the ninth, the Yankees scored three runs on two hits and two walks, one of which was the first, and so far only, intentional walk of Rob Refsnyder’s career. In the ninth, Aroldis Chapman allowed back-to-back home runs to Eduardo Escobar and Kurt Suzuki. The Yankees just barely escaped with a 7-6 win in the end.
3. June 8: Yankees 12, Angels 6
Also known as the Chris Parmelee game. In his first start with the Yankees, Parmelee went 3-for-5, with two home runs, driving in three runs. Prior to the night, he had appeared in four games with the Yankees, but had yet to come to the plate. Between this game, and his 1-for-3 effort the next day, he put up a 1.875 OPS. In that fateful game, he got hurt and hasn’t been seen since.
After the offense went hitless the first time through the order, the Yankees fell behind after an Evan Longoria RBI single. The Yankees then didn’t pick up a hit in the fourth or fifth innings. They finally got a baserunner when Dustin Ackley reached via error in the sixth, but still had no hits.
In the seventh, Brett Gardner drew a one-out walk. Starlin Casto then picked up the Yankees’ first hit. That hit also happened to be a two-run home run that gave the Yankees the lead. It was the only hit the Yankees recorded that day, and also the final baserunner they had. Thanks to a solid start from Nathan Eovaldi and the bullpen being what it is, that one hit was enough. For the second time in their history, the Yankees won a game where they recorded just one hit.
1. June 27: Yankees 6, Rangers 9
By far the weirdest game of the season so far is one of the most recent. Heading into the ninth inning, the Yankees appeared to be on their way to a win in what was a fairly normal game. The had scored six runs on 15 hits, and were putting in closer Aroldis Chapman to try and finish off the Rangers. With rain coming down pretty heavily, Chapman walked the first batter he faced and fell behind on the second. Much to the Rangers’ dismay, the game then went into a rain delay.
After about a 14-hour delay (rough estimate), the game resumed. The Rangers then proceeded to pound Kirby Yates. They scored four runs in the ninth, taking the lead. The Yankees had no answer in the bottom of the ninth and lost 9-6, a couple minutes before 3:00 AM EST in what was now the morning of June 28. The box score shows this game as a regulation nine-inning game that lasted 3:43, but it was so much more than that.