Ryan McMahon started Friday night’s game against Kansas City on the bench thanks to one of the worst starts to the season of anyone in the majors.
He entered with the Yankees clinging to a one-run lead in the top of the eighth.
When that lead disappeared, thanks to another shaky outing by the bullpen, McMahon played a much bigger role than anyone could have anticipated.
The slumping third baseman hit a go-ahead, two-out, two-run homer and the Yankees held on for a 4-2 win in The Bronx.
It was a much-needed win for the Yankees, who entered having lost seven of their last nine, playing a Royals team that had dropped four straight, as well as seven of nine overall.
And the Yankees were close to wasting an outstanding performance by Cam Schlittler, who retired the first 11 batters he faced.
The right-hander, perfect until Vinnie Pasquantino singled to left with two outs in the fourth, allowed just an unearned run in six-plus innings.
It was in the sixth, holding a two-run lead provided by Ben Rice’s homer in the fourth, that the Yankees faltered.
Schlittler walked Maikel García with one out — just Schlitter’s second walk allowed of the season.
But Schlittler then got Bobby Witt Jr. to hit a fly ball to deep center, where the slumping Trent Grisham camped under it — and had it bounce off his glove for a two-base error.
With runners on second and third and one out, Pasquantino grounded to first to score García and make it 2-1 before Schlittler got Salvador Pérez to finish the inning.
Schlittler walked Carter Jensen to start the seventh and Lane Thomas ended Schlittler’s night with a single through the right side of the infield.
Lefty Brent Headrick entered, struck out Jac Caglianone, got pinch-hitter Jonathan India to pop out and after making a throwing error into center on a pickoff attempt, got another pinch-hitter, Starling Marte, on a comebacker to preserve the one-run lead.
But Camilo Doval took over in the eighth and allowed a game-tying, two-out solo shot to Pasquantino that just reached the stands in right.
The Yankees bounced back in unlikely fashion, as Rice singled with two out before McMahon, who hadn’t had an extra-base hit all year and who Aaron Boone said wouldn’t get much playing time over the next six games thanks to the Yankees facing a handful of lefty starters, went deep.
The third baseman has hit 20-plus homers a year and even that part of his game vanished in the early part of the season — before Friday night.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
