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Sun and clouds mixed. High 84F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph..
Mostly cloudy skies this evening followed by thunderstorms late. Low 63F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.
The New York Yankees’ Josh Donaldson rounds the bases after hitting a grand slam in the third inning against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on Thursday, July 7, 2022, in Boston.
The New York Yankees’ Josh Donaldson rounds the bases after hitting a grand slam in the third inning against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on Thursday, July 7, 2022, in Boston.
NEW YORK — The inside of Josh Donaldson’s right forearm was throbbing.
Getting drilled there in the fourth inning really hurt. It still hurt when Wednesday was about to become Thursday at Yankee Stadium.
The Yankees trailed the Tampa Bay Rays 4-0 through 5 ½ innings. Their offense was dead again. Then it started waking up. Then the rain came. Then after a 63-minute delay the Yankees roared back to tie the game. And then Aroldis Chapman seemingly blew it allowing three 10th-inning runs.
The remaining few thousand fans booed the Yankees, who were three outs away from a 12th loss in 14 games. Donaldson never gave up hope.
As bad as the Yankees had been playing, as disappointing as the offense has been for a couple weeks, he’d seen his club rally late to steal games over and over during their amazing first half. They did it again, and this 8-7 thriller of thrillers was the topper.
The Yankees needed any win in the worst way and they got it with a walk-off grand slam by Donaldson, who poked an opposite-field blast to right that carried over the short porch just after the Yankee Stadium scoreboard clock struck midnight.
The Yankees celebrated on the field like they’d won a playoff game, then they celebrated some more in the clubhouse with loud music blaring and strobe lights flashing.
“I definitely think that was a release of some joy and some frustration over the past couple weeks for sure,” Donaldson said.
Donaldson says he hasn’t been paying attention to the outside noise from frustrated fans and critical media, but he knew they were on his club because this is New York. All along, he’s been very sure than anyone thinking this Yankees’ slump was the start of an epic collapse was dead wrong, and comeback win No. 31 and walk-off victory No. 13 was proof in his mind that he’s right.
“I think that’s who we are as a team,” Donaldson said with an ice bag wrapped around his swollen right forearm. “I don’t think the last two weeks is who we are. I think that’s more of a blip than anything. I think for us to be ourselves and go out there and compete to the last final out and pick each other up, that’s what we do.”
Down 7-4 heading to the bottom of the 10th, Aaron Judge took second base as the ghost runner and Gleyber Torres started a rally with a great piece of hitting off reliever Jalen Beeks, a lefty who was the Rays’ opener in Monday night’s game.
Finally, Torres went with a pitch and drove a ball to right for an opposite-field single. “Gleyber, not trying to do too much, hit a ball the other way and gets a knock,” Donaldson said. “It’s huge.”
Next up was Anthony Rizzo, who laid off for four straight pitches off the plate for a walk that loaded the bases with nobody out.
“Now we have a chance to win the ballgame,” Donaldson said.
Donaldson went to the plate with a plan.
“I faced (Beeks) in the first game of the series,” Donaldson said. “He threw me three pretty wicked changeups and they were all down. So my focus was trying to see something out there. He threw a first pitch heater, which I wasn’t looking for, so I kind of tried to stop and ended up going with a swing.”
The swing was ugly. Donaldson quickly refocused.
“I was like, ‘All right, maybe he goes heater now,’ but I’m still looking for it up. But I wasn’t trying to do too much. I was trying to hit a line drive the other way.”
The next pitch was a high 97-mph heater that nicked the outside corner. Donaldson took a big cut and drove it the other way with some lift.
“When I hit it, I saw which direction of the field that it was going and I knew that it was gone,” Donaldson said.
“There’s not too many better feelings in the world than hitting a walk-off homer,” he added. “As a kid, that’s what we all put ourselves in those moments for.”
This was better than just a walk-off homer. This was a walk-off grand slam, just the 10th in Yankees history and first since Mark Teixeira in 2016. And the timing couldn’t have been better.
Instead of losing for the 12th time in 14 games and 22nd time in 33 since June 9, they have a one-game winning streak and 10-game lead again in the AL East over both the Rays and Toronto Blue Jays.
“We want to parlay the momentum that we took from this game, but (Thursday) starts with the new day and the scoreboard flips back to zero,” Donaldson said.
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