Yankees outlast Diamondbacks, rain in 7-5 win

For a while, the Yankees’ on-field goings on were fairly similar to what was happening off the field. They managed a couple early runs, but were mostly held in check by Zack Greinke, who didn’t even end the game on the Diamondbacks. However, a bad fourth inning by a combination of Masahiro Tanaka and Chad Green saw Arizona rally to take a lead. Then the rain came.

After a half/hour delay, the game resumed and the Yankees’ offense finally woke up. The Yankees scored five runs over their final two innings, and that was enough to vault them back into the lead. This time, they would hold onto the lead and come out with a 7-5 win in the series finale against the Diamondbacks.

As mentioned, the Yankees did score first, picking up a couple runs in the second inning. With two outs and Gio Urshela on base, Mike Tauchman homered off Greinke to give the Yankees an early lead. Imagine your reaction if someone told you that scenario happening before the season.

Tanaka was mostly solid early, and then got into some trouble in the fourth, but escaped it with the help of Urshela. He allowed a couple singles to start the fifth, and was promptly removed from the game by Aaron Boone.

Chad Green came in for him and did immediately get an out. However, it was a force out at second after the runner misread a ball that just dropped in. It also scored a run. Green then allowed a single and a walk to load the bases. He got Jake Lamb to fly out to center, but it was deep enough for a runner to tag up and score. Aaron Hicks’ throw to third to get an advancing runner then went over Urshela’s head and out of play, allowing a third run to score. In the course of a couple minutes, Arizona went from not on the board to leading the game.

When the dust settled, Tanaka’s final line ended up being two runs allowed on five hits and three walks in four innings. Not great, but still an improvement over his last outing.

After the Yankees went down in order in the fifth and Arizona was held scoreless in the top of the sixth, the rain began to really come down, and the game went into a delay. After 36 minutes, they managed to avoid losing a shortened game, and that ended up working out well.

In the bottom of the seventh, Tauchman kept inning alive with a two-out double. This time it was Austin Romine’s turn to deliver the big hit. He homered to put the Yankees back in front. In the eighth, the Yankees tacked on another three runs, this time coming from some of the more expected sources. Aaron Judge, Edwin Encarnacion, Gleyber Torres, and Cameron Maybin all had hits in the inning, while Didi Gregorius drove in a run on a ground out.

Those insurance runs ended up coming in handy, as Tim Locastro led off the bottom of the ninth with a home run. Had the Yankees been held scoreless in the eighth, the game would have been tied. It did lead to Aaron Boone going back to the bullpen to bring in Aroldis Chapman. The closer again struggled finding the zone, and did end up allowing another run. However, he eventually finished off the game.

This has been a weird day for a variety of reasons. Whether or not you’re happy with the off-field Yankees doings today, we can all agree: at least they didn’t lose this game.

Box score.