The Yankees thought they had a strong home-field advantage through their first four playoff games in The Bronx.
Then Tuesday night happened.
Yankee Stadium shook in the eighth inning, the roars of the crowd reaching an apex as Gary Sanchez broke a tie and doubled home two runs to lift the Bombers to a 6-4 comeback win over the Astros in Game 4 of the ALCS.
“I’ve been here for Mo [Mariano Rivera] and Jeet [Derek Jeter] when those guys were throwing and hitting and doing some great, legendary stuff,” catcher Austin Romine said after making his first start of the postseason. “This is [the same], if not the most I’ve ever heard these fans get after it.”
The Yankees are now 5-0 at home in these playoffs, continuing their strong play in the friendly confines of Yankee Stadium after owning the American League’s best home record during the regular season at 51-30.
A night after they had reasons to be loud all game, the crowd was lively again through five innings of a pitcher’s duel before getting momentarily quieted by a three-run double from Yuli Gurriel that put the Astros up in the sixth inning.
But it didn’t take long — one powerful Aaron Judge swing, in fact — for the sellout crowd of 48,804 to go wild again. The buzz only grew as the Yankees made their comeback in the seventh and eighth innings, with seats that were hardly sat in after Judge’s home run.
“It’s intimidating to come in and play here,” CC Sabathia said.
Chad Green said he never felt the Stadium shake like it did when Sanchez put the Yankees ahead for good.
“That was incredible,” he said.
The Astros are also unbeaten (4-0) at home in these playoffs. But the Yankees will take their home-field advantage, and after two ALCS games in The Bronx, it’s hard to blame them.
“It’s phenomenal,” Chase Headley said Monday. “This entire postseason, [the crowd] has been as good an atmosphere as I’ve seen. You hear a lot about Cleveland and last year’s run and all that stuff. From the first pitch of the wild-card game, I don’t think there’s been a place that’s tougher to play at than here.”
