Yanks make it 5 in a row with comeback win

NEW YORK -- Left-hander Andrew Heaney made his second start for the Yankees on Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium and the outcome was mixed, but the Yanks managed to edge the Mariners, 5-4.

With their fifth straight win, the Yankees improved their record to 61-49. They remained 1 1/2 games behind the A’s for the second American League Wild Card spot.

“We are having fun. We are playing together. That’s how we win games,” Yankees third baseman Rougned Odor said. “When we don’t have fun, we don’t win. We don’t play right. [But] we are playing right. We are doing the right thing and having fun at the same time. I think that is what’s helping us the last week.”

The Yankees came back from a 4-1 deficit to take the one-run lead in the sixth inning. Odor highlighted the scoring with a two-run homer.

The good news is that Heaney pitched deep enough to save the bullpen, which had been taxed the previous night. The Yankees used nine relievers in a 3-2, 11-inning victory.

Heaney gave the ‘pen enough rest to pitch six innings, allowing four runs on four hits.

Like he did in his Yankees debut against the Orioles, Heaney was hit hard early in the game. In the first inning, the Mariners took a 2-0 lead on a home run by Kyle Seager. An inning later, Seattle increased its lead to 4-1. With the bases loaded, Abraham Toro drew a walk, scoring Luis Torrens. Mitch Haniger followed and hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Jarred Kelenic.

Manager Aaron Boone acknowledged that he was one batter away from taking Heaney out of the game. But Heaney pushed through and righted the ship the next four innings, blanking Seattle and striking out six batters the rest of the way. It helped that he was able to fix his mechanics.

“I kind of needed to get lined up,” Heaney said. “Quite frankly, I just needed to make better pitches, work ahead. It was pretty rocky, obviously. It’s not how I wanted to start the game. I’m just extremely glad to … be able to come back and give our offense a chance.”

Heaney wanted to pitch at least one more inning. He said he felt strong after striking out the side in the sixth. Heaney also had the bullpen on his mind. He was aware that they were tired from the night before.

“I knew our bullpen was thin. Obviously, after those first two innings, I probably put a scare into everybody,” Heaney said. “… I got through six and I felt good. … I felt like I had more in the tank. I wanted to keep going. Luckily we have guys down there that are nasty and want the ball. Boone turned it over to them. I’m always going to want the ball in my hand.”

Said Boone, “Heaney stepped up and settled into a rhythm and groove. I’m really proud of that effort. That’s a tough effort right there, when you come to a new team. You are trying to find your way. You are up against it, and you keep on going. I thought it was a really good performance by Heaney.”

Heaney became the winning pitcher when the Yankees rallied to score four runs in the sixth inning. With right-hander Chris Flexen on the mound, Odor golfed the ball into the right-field seats for a two-run homer to make it a 4-3 game. That Yankee Stadium special was this season's second-softest-hit over-the-fence home run at 89.0 mph. The only softer big fly was from Toro (88.7 mph) for the Astros against the Mariners right before he was traded across dugouts.

“It was a little [like] Anthony Rizzo. He went down to the knee and kept that bat in the zone for a while, and he was able to clip it just enough,” Boone said about the Odor homer.

Odor hit the ball off the end of the bat, but he wasn’t sure if the ball was going to be fair or foul.

“I knew the ball was carrying pretty good,” Odor said.

Left-hander Anthony Misiewicz was on the mound for Seattle when pinch-hitter Gleyber Torres hit what appeared to be a routine fly ball to right fielder Mitch Haniger, who dropped it, allowing Torres to reach third base.

Torres then scored on a ground-run double by pinch-hitter Kyle Higashioka. After DJ LeMahieu singled to put runners on first and third, Rizzo hit a hard grounder to first baseman Ty France, who quickly tagged first. But instead of going for a play at the plate, France went after LeMahieu, who ended up in a rundown. That allowed Higashioka to score the game-winning run.

“We didn’t know how we were going to do it today, but it was a really good job by everyone,” Boone said. “Knowing the importance, keep playing, hang around and they got it done.”