Yankees Outlast Dbacks in 10

Mariano Rivera must have been experiencing some deja vu, or at the very least, some near deja vu last night. But thankfully for the greatest closer of all time this is June, 2010 not November, 2001. Rivera worked out of a bases loaded, nobody out jam in the 10th inning and the Yankees defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-5 last night. In doing so, the Yankees took two of three and picked up a game on the Rays and Red Sox, both of whom lost.

The Yankees did everything they could to not win the game, particular on the basepaths, but the Diamondbacks bullpen was much more giving. After Alex Rodriguez's sac fly tied the game against Aaron Heilman in the 9th, Curtis Granderson smacked a solo home run off Carlos Rosa in the 10th inning to give the Bombers a 6-5 lead. Granderson is the only major leaguer with more than one home run in extra innings this season.

The Diamondbacks immediately rallied against Rivera in their half of the 10, loading the bases on a Stephen Drew single, a double off the bat of Justin Upton, and intentional walk to Miguel Montero. Rivera got Chris Young to foul out to Francisco Cervelli and Adam LaRoche, who had driven in all five Dbacks runs, to pop out to third. That left things up to Mark Reynolds, king of home runs and strikeouts. Rivera made it the latter, pushing Reynolds strikeout total to 103 with a swing and a miss at strike three.

This was a game that was ugly for the start. Dontrelle Willis couldn't throw strikes, but the Yankees made a pair of base running blunders to ruin a potential big 1st inning. Nick Swisher was picked off 1st base (though it was recorded as a caught stealing) and Mark Teixeira was thrown out on ill time double steal time as Robinson Cano struck out.

Javier Vazquez lasted just five innings before being lifted for a pinch-hitter in the 6th. LaRoche victimized for a pair of 2-run singles, but he got off the hook when the Yankees tied the game at 4-4 in the 6th with a pair of runs. That included a pinch-hit RBI single for Colin Curtis.

Damaso Marte gave the run right back in the bottom of the sixth with the help of a balk and a wild pitch. LaRoche's ground out gave AZ a 5-4 lead and set up the late game drama.