Yankees can exhale now after ninth-inning comeback

NEW YORK -- For eight innings at Yankee Stadium on Friday night, the Yankees’ offense was silent. The big bats woke up just in time.

The Yankees entered the bottom of the ninth of their series opener against the Tigers with a zero on the scoreboard, trailing 1-0 with just two hits. But then came a leadoff single by Aaron Judge. A beautiful bunt hit by Alex Verdugo. A missile of a game-tying double by Giancarlo Stanton. And finally, the game-winning single through a drawn-in infield by Anthony Rizzo. All off a tough closer in Jason Foley.

Suddenly, the Bronx Bombers had pulled off a walk-off 2-1 win.

"Winning like this, when we're not clicking, is big down the road," Rizzo said. "I know it's one game, but every game matters."

The Yankees’ lineup had been scuffling all week. The same team that exploded for 30 runs in two games against the Brewers last weekend was held to just six runs in its next four games against the Orioles -- leading New York to drop three of four games in a clash of the top two teams in the American League East -- and then no runs on Friday against Detroit … until the ninth. The Yanks' clutch rally finally let them breathe a sigh of relief.

"I was trying to exhale all night," manager Aaron Boone said.

"We've got a lot of good hitters. It's been a slow week for us, but you hope something like this can ignite that fire a little bit and get the offense cranking. But it's about winning."

Here's how the Yankees' ninth-inning rally unfolded, at-bat by at-bat.

Judge's leadoff single
Judge still hasn't fully gotten going this season. The Yankees' captain entered Friday's game batting just .197. But he got the Yankees going when it mattered most.

"I think Judgey getting on, setting the tone there, is always so big for us," Rizzo said.

And it wasn't with one big swing, either. It was with a nice piece of hitting against a tough right-handed sinkerballer.

Judge took a 97 mph sinker from Foley on the bottom edge of the strike zone right back through the middle. Turns out one of the biggest sluggers in baseball can be a table-setter, too, and ignite an offense that looked dead for almost an entire game.

"There's no question when Aaron Judge does stuff, the guys react positively to that. Without question," Boone said. "He's got that kind of presence, and he's that kind of player, and the guys look to him in that way."

Verdugo's bunt hit
Verdugo surprised everyone when -- to the delight of the Yankee Stadium crowd -- he followed Judge by dropping a perfect bunt down the third-base line for a hit.

Verdugo doesn't bunt very often. But the idea popped into his head after the first pitch he saw from Foley. And after he took a big rip on 2-0 and fouled it off, he saw Tigers third baseman Zach McKinstry creep back.

That was the sign he needed to lay one down. And Verdugo executed to a T. His bunt put the winning runs on base for two dangerous hitters in Stanton and Rizzo, and it put the pressure on Foley.

"I'm sure that's the last thing he was probably thinking [about] right there," said Yankees starter Marcus Stroman, providing a pitcher's perspective on how a bunt hit in that situation can change the complexion of an inning. "And it's deflating when that happens. Especially having those guys come up in our lineup. You feel like you have to make every pitch perfect. And it's impossible in that scenario."

When asked if he thought his bunt rattled the Tigers’ closer, Verdugo laughed.

"I don't know if it rattled him, per se. But I think it definitely caught everybody off-guard," Verdugo said. "I really don't bunt. But me and Booney, we've been talking about it. We've been talking about third basemen giving me that spot. And when they back up and take away those hits over there, he's just like, 'Hey, let 'em know that [the bunt is] there.'"

"It was huge. It was a perfect bunt," Stanton said. "I had the best seat in the house for it."

Stanton's game-tying double
But the Yankees still had to score. And Stanton finally broke through.

"It's just one of those [games where we] keep pushing while we have outs, while we have opportunities," Stanton said. "And we needed every last one."

Stanton had already struck out three times in the game when he stepped to the plate with Judge and Verdugo on base in the ninth. But he's so dangerous -- as is the rest of the Yankees’ lineup -- that all it takes is one hack to turn a game around.

And Stanton jumped all over a 97.1 mph sinker from Foley, scorching a 115.9 mph double into the right-field corner to tie the game.

"You've got to stay inside it," Stanton said. "He's heavy sink, so it's tough to stay inside of his heater. Just try to get something up, get it in the air. You don't want to hit into a double play right there."

Stanton said the Yankees' mindset entering the ninth inning was simple: We've got time.

"If we've got outs left, we've got time," he said.

Rizzo's walk-off single
With the game now tied, 1-1, the winning run on third and still no outs, Detroit pulled its infield in against Rizzo.

Since first base was open, the Tigers could have put Rizzo aboard either via an intentional walk or by pitching around him to load the bases and set up a force at home. Rizzo called it a "tricky" situation. As he stepped into the batter's box against Foley, he was trying to figure out what Detroit would do.

But when Foley pumped in a sinker for strike one on the first pitch, Rizzo decided the Tigers were coming after him. So he let it rip on the next pitch, a changeup, and stroked the walk-off hit just past diving second baseman Andy Ibáñez and into right field. Game over.

"Usually, in that situation, I get a little more patient," Rizzo said. "The bigger the situation, the more I try to slow it down. [But] as soon as he ran it right at me with the fastball, I kind of felt like he was going to be in attack mode there. Luckily, it got through."

Stroman had raced out from the clubhouse to the dugout to watch the ninth inning. He got there just in time to see the Yankees' comeback.

"Crazy game, fun game," Stroman said. "This lineup's pretty special. I feel like it's hard to keep us out of it for all nine."