When I started writing this post, it was about Manny Machado hitting the longest home run (so far) of 2017, and the longest homer at Yankee Stadium in the Statcast era. Here’s that 470-foot blast:
That gave the Orioles a 5-0 lead, and they would even take a 9-1 lead after Mark Trumbo hit a grand slam in the top of the sixth.
So, it’s absolutely incredible that the YANKEES won this game by the score of 14-11. Yes, after trailing 9-1 entering the bottom of the sixth, the Yankees won the game 14-11.
New York got two three runs in the bottom of the sixth to start a comeback, with two of those coming on Aaron Judge’s second homer of the game. This second homer is the hardest-hit homer in the Statcast era. 119.4 MPH!
(I had more to say about Judge in our look at the most surprising things so far this season)
The Orioles scored two more runs in the top of the seventh, but in the bottom half of the inning, New York’s Jacoby Ellsbury hit this grand slam to make it an 11-8 game:
¡Un swing, dos objetivos! ? Jacoby Ellsbury conecta su jonrón #️⃣1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ de su carrera y su primer ?GRAND SLAM ? pic.twitter.com/RQdkXcIvuP
— Yankees Beisbol (@Yankees_Beisbol) April 29, 2017
Then came the bottom of the ninth, and a spot that the Orioles really, really wish they had closer Zach Britton (rehabbing from a shoulder injury). After the Yankees had already scored one run in the inning, Starlin Castro sent a Brad Brach offering well beyond the left field wall to tie the game 11-11:
And in the bottom of the tenth inning, Matt Holliday hit a walk-off three-run homer to give the Yankees a stunning 14-11 victory:
Here’s a look at FanGraphs‘ win probability graph from the game, which gave the Yankees a 0.5% chance of winning at one point:
https://twitter.com/sung_minkim/status/858156908309471232
