CLEVELAND — The only item missing from the generous gift presented to the Yankees by the Indians on Saturday night was an attractive pinstripe bow dotted with interlocking NYs.
How else can you describe two errors on one play in the big leagues by a team running away with the AL Central?
Yet after flushing a three-run lead taken in the third inning, the Yankees benefited from Indians right fielder Brandon Guyer failing to pick up Austin Romine’s double to the warning track in right-center in the seventh inning of a tie game. That blunder allowed the heavy-legged catcher to round second and make third. Second baseman Erik Gonzalez then took Guyer’s throw and threw wildly to third, the ball bouncing over the rail and into the Indians’ dugout. That sent Romine home on a jog with the deciding run in a 5-4 Yankees victory at Progressive Field.
The win kept the Yankees 3 ½ lengths back of the AL East-leading Red Sox with one game left before the All-Star break begins Monday.
Teammates in the dugout and bullpen said they enjoyed watching Romine tour the bases. Romine wondered how that could be.
“How can you have fun watching a catcher run?’’ Romine asked.
Didi Gregorius (left) and Aaron JudgeAPManager Aaron Boone watched the play unfold in the Yankees’ clubhouse after being ejected by first base umpire Jerry Meals for arguing a ball that hit Giancarlo Stanton in the hand on a swing. Plate ump Ed Hickox said the ball hit the bat and called Stanton out.
“It looks like they got the call right,’’ Boone said after the Yankees survived third baseman Miguel Andujar’s faulty throw in the sixth when the Indians scored two runs on Guyer’s infield single and Andujar and Romine colliding in foul territory, failing to catch Guyer’s pop up leading off the ninth against Aroldis Chapman.
“It wasn’t always perfect and pretty but a good win for us,’’ said Boone, whose club can take three of four from the Indians and finish an 11-game road trip with a 7-4 record should the Yankees win Sunday.
Didi Gregorius’ three-run homer in the first inning off Mike Clevinger provided CC Sabathia with an early cushion, at which the Indians chipped away. AL MVP-candidate Jose Ramirez homered with two outs and nobody on in the first. Sabathia traded a run for an out in the third when Michael Brantley’s grounder to first plated Gonzalez to make it 3-2. The two runs on an infield single in the sixth tied the score, 4-4, and cost Sabathia a chance at a victory.
What bothered Sabathia was a pitch to Brantley that went for a single off second baseman Tyler Wade’s glove in short right field with one out and nobody on in the sixth.
“I’ve got to make a better pitch to Michael Brantley,’’ Sabathia said.
After a walk to Ramirez, Sabathia retired Edwin Encarnacion on a grounder to third in front of Guyer’s chopper to Andujar who backed up and played the chopper on his heels. His throw pulled Greg Bird off the base and Bird’s throw home was high as Ramirez scored from second.
David Robertson surfaced from the bullpen and stranded the runner he inherited and Francisco Mejia, whom he walked. Robertson worked a perfect seventh, Dellin Betances struck out two of the three batters he faced and Chapman overcame the Andujar-Romine miscue and a walk to Mejia to post his 26th save in 27 chances.
Working with a triple-digit fastball, Chapman struck out Yan Gomes with a 0-2 slider.
“You don’t go crazy,’’ said Chapman, who didn’t show any signs that his tendinitis-wracked left knee bothered him. “You try the same to get the guy out.’’
And take the gift.




