By Howard
Goldin
BRONX, NEW YORK (SPORTS)- As the MLB
regular season nears its conclusion, every game the Yankees play is crucial to
their qualifying for the playoffs. The 10 inning, that lasted more than four
hours, 8-7, victory over the Twins on Monday night kept the Yanks in first
place in the American League East by one game over the Blue Jays. It was only
the third win for the Yanks in 10 extra-inning contests this year.
Greg Bird,
whose major league debut took place four days before Monday’s contest, led off
the bottom of the 10th with a double to right. Catcher Brian McCann
was deprived of his 6th RBI of the game as Brid had to hold up at
third. Carlos Beltran, who hit a two-run homer in the seventh to tie the score
at 7, was intentionally walked. Third sacker Chase Headley grounded to former
Yankee Eduardo Nuñez, who had difficulty fielding the ball and then threw it to
first allowing Bird to successfully cross the plate for the walk-off win. Bird
was obviously, excited to score the winni9ng run in his first game in the
Bronx, “It’s a special feeling. I’m not trying to do anything special. I’m just
trying to help this team win. It was a team effort today.”
McCann, the
veteran catcher, now in his 10th season in the big leagues,
performed outstandingly at bat and behind the plate. He smacked a two-out,
three run home run in the first. The three tallies gave the yanks a total of 99
runs scored in the first frame this year, more than any team in any inning in
the majors this season.
In the
third, also with two out, McCann drove in two with a single.
The
experienced backstop threw out three of the five Twins’ runners that tried to
steal bases. He is only the third catcher in the past 75 years who kno0cked in
five runs and threw out three runners in a single game. Despite his individual
achievements in the contest, he gave credit to his teammates, “I can’t say
enough for those 12-13 guys [pitching staff]. It was team win.”
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