Indians top Yanks on walk-off single in 16th
CLEVELAND -- Michael Brantley delivered a walk-off single off Branden Pinder in the bottom of the 16th inning, driving home Jose Ramirez as the Indians defeated the Yankees, 5-4, on Tuesday night at Progressive Field.
Cleveland's late walk-off came after the Tribe handed Andrew Miller his first blown save of the season in the 10th, when Carlos Santana lifted a sacrifice fly and Yan Gomes lined a run-scoring single to tie the game. New York had grabbed the lead in the top half of the 10th on pinch-hitter Chase Headley's two-run single off Bryan Shaw.
The five-hour, four-minute affair was the fourth-longest game in terms of innings this season in the Majors. The Yankees participated in the longest, a 19-inning loss to the Red Sox on April 10. New York has lost four straight, seeing its lead in the American League East trimmed to just a half-game over the surging Blue Jays.
"Every loss right now is painful," first baseman Mark Teixeira said. "We just haven't been swinging the bats. We went through an incredible stretch where it seemed like every night we were scoring 10 runs, and now it's the opposite. We need to swing our way out of it."
Indians starter Carlos Carrasco limited the Yankees to four hits over eight dominant innings, walking none and striking out eight, but Stephen Drew hit a sixth-inning solo homer and Carlos Beltran connected for a game-tying blast in the eighth as Carrasco settled for a no-decision.
"He was very good," Indians manager Terry Francona said. "It seemed like a long time ago. He gave up the solo homer to Drew, but the other one to Beltran was actually a pretty good pitch. When your good hitters get later in the game and they've seen a number of pitches, they get more dangerous. But he was really good. To the point that I thought about letting him go out for the ninth, but I just thought that was good enough."
The Indians scored twice off rookie starter Luis Severino, who settled down and gave the Yankees six solid innings in his second Major League effort. Santana notched a first-inning RBI single and Ramirez added a run-scoring hit in the second off Severino, who has been rated as the Yanks' top prospect by MLBPipeline.com.
Video: NYY@CLE: Brantley talks walk-off hit, avoids dousing
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Severino settles down: Making his second Major League start, Severino got off to a shaky beginning, permitting six hits and two runs early. He calmed down after Brantley's leadoff double in the third inning and retired 11 of the next 12 batters, keeping his pitch count under control as he managed to get through six innings. The 21-year-old Severino held the Tribe to seven hits in the 97-pitch effort, walking one and striking out two.
"I thought he did a pretty good job," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "He seemed to settle down pretty good after the first two innings. He gave up a lot of hits and got in a lot of long counts and then he seemed to settle down and shut them down for the next four innings. He kept us in the game. We were able to chip away."
Video: NYY@CLE: Severino pitches six innings of two-run ball
Gio the Great: Rookie third baseman Giovanny Urshela backed up his reputation as an elite defender with a fantastic play that prevented the speedy Brett Gardner from leading off the fourth inning with a hit. Gardner hit a grounder that hugged the third-base line, which Urshela snagged while his momentum carried him into foul territory. A jump-throw sailed to first baseman Chris Johnson without a bounce, and Gardner was retired with a step to spare. More >
"Phenomenal play," Brantley said. "I know he has a great arm. I've been watching him all year. He's been making great plays, on the run, backhand plays. That was pretty special right there. A fast runner like Gardner running down the baseline, too, didn't have much time. Great play. Phenomenal."
Video: Must C Cannon: Urshela makes an unbelievable throw
Yanks' offense sputters: The Yankees' scoreless streak had reached 31 innings when Drew finally got them on the board with his 14th home run of the year, a solo shot to right off Carrasco in the sixth. Two innings later, Beltran tied the game with a line drive that just cleared the fence in right field, going in the books as Beltran's 10th home run of the season. The top five spots in the Yankees' order combined to go an alarming 1-for-30. More >
"We're in a fight. We didn't think it was going to be anything different than that," Girardi said. "We're going through a little tough stretch, but we'll get it turned around."
Video: NYY@CLE: Drew hammers a solo home run to right field
Beating the best: After pinch-hitter Headley gave the Yankees a 4-2 lead with a two-run single in the 10th, the Yankees brought in Miller, who had been a perfect 24-for-24 in save opportunities entering the night. The lefty gave up a leadoff single to Francisco Lindor, followed by an opposite-field double by Brantley. Santana brought Lindor home on a sacrifice fly, and a bloop single by Gomes in the next at-bat evened the score. It was just the sixth time in 39 appearances that Miller allowed an earned run. More >
"That's tough duty," Francona said. "When you see that big guy coming in, it's easy to kind of go, 'Well, we played a decent game.' But we fought back. I don't know if anybody thought we'd be playing this long, but it's worth it."
Video: NYY@CLE: Gomes ties the game with an RBI single
QUOTABLE
"We're in for a fight. It's not going to be easy; I don't think we ever expected it would be. We have to turn things around a little bit. That falls on my shoulders as much as anybody. I didn't do my job. We're going to run out of time if we don't turn things around. This is a good enough team and we've shown we can do it. We've been through stretches that haven't been easy before, so we have to show up tomorrow ready to play." -- Miller
WHAT'S NEXT
Yankees: Left-hander CC Sabathia (4-8, 5.34 ERA) takes the ball in his old stomping grounds on Wednesday, hoping for a strong follow-up to an eight-strikeout performance that defeated the Red Sox his last time out. Sabathia won the 2007 AL Cy Young Award with Cleveland and is 4-1 with a 2.94 ERA lifetime against the Indians. The game is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. ET.
Indians: Flame-throwing right-hander Danny Salazar (9-6, 3.38 ERA) takes the mound for the Indians in his first career start against the Yankees. Salazar is in the midst of his best five-start stretch of the season, in which he has allowed just six earned runs spanning 35 1/3 innings.
Watch every out-of-market regular season game live on MLB.TV.