And there was more rain…

Thankfully, it was nothing like the day before. The delay amounted to only 16 minutes. But there was added time for the fans – this one ran into extra innings.

More surprisingly, the Yankees limited the Brewers who had so dominated them over the previous two days, to a mere three hits over the regulation nine innings. Even more surprisingly, the Yankees didn’t get a hit at all until the 10th.

And so much of the weight of the Yankees staying in the game fell upon the able shoulders of Gerrit Cole, who if there is any justice in the baseball world will walk away with the American League Cy Young award for 2023.

Cole started as he meant to go on with two strikeouts in the top of the first. However, the opposition starter Corbin Burnes showed that he was not going to come up short. He had one strikeout, but there was never a hint of anybody getting on base.

Indeed, Cole looked like he might be the one with the problems. In the second, he gave up two singles and also committed a wild pitch. Somehow, Cole dug his way out from under, Next, Burnes picked up his second strikeout, and retired all three batters in order.

The Yankees had switched things around a little from the line-up that had played in the previous game. Sensibly, Aaron Judge was back in rightfield, and Giancarlo Stanton even more sensibly at designated hitter. As usual, Ben Rortvedt was Cole’s battery partner, giving Austin Wells a day off his offensive struggles. Less optimistically, Jasson Dominguez wasn’t available, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa had to fill in at centrefield.

Burnes achieved two more strikeouts in the third, as both line-ups went down 1-2-3. In the fifth, the Brewers found another chink in Cole’s armour. He gave up a double to Bryce Turang, but once again recovered to ensure that no runs were conceded. Aside from two walks for the Yankees, and a stolen base for Isiah Kiner-Falefa, there were no chances for either team to score, and the game spun into the eighth inning.

Wandy Peralta came in at that juncture. Cole had conceded three hits, but no walks. Burnes had given up two walks, but no hits. In the 9th, after an inning with one walk, but no hits, Peralta was replaced by Clay Holmes. In the bottom of that inning, Devin Williams replaced Burnes. Whatever was going to happen the Yankees were showing a great deal more character than they had shown at any other time in this series.

It wasn’t too long before Tommy Kahnle was taking the mound as the Yankees stepped into extra innings, with Joey Wiemer playing the role of the “ghost runner” at second base. Despite walking Willy Adames, Kahnle survived by getting Andruw Monasterio to hit into a 5-4-3 double play. Victor Caratini was the third out and everything was still even.

It was Caratini who was the ruuner on second base in the 11th, when the Brewers finally created a lead for themselves. Nick Ramirez had replaced Kahnle. A Turang ground out moved Caratini up another base, and a single from Tyrone Taylor made the run batted in. The Brewers had a chance to make it two, but Ramirez got out of the mess he had created.

Ironically, that second run would have made all the difference, for the Yankees’ 11th had a marked similarity to that of the Brewers. Volpe on second was moved up by an Everson Pereira ground out, which was followed by an Oswaldo Cabrera double which evened the score, and with Cabrera in scoring position, it looked like the Yankees were now very much in the driving seat. Pitcher, Joel Payamps managed to equal Ramirez in the mess he got himself into with a walk to DJ LeMahieu, and an intentional walk to Aaron Judge leaving the Yankees with bases loaded and two outs. But, it was Gleyber Torres grounding out that meant the Yankees could do no more than tie the score.

The 12th inning opened with the Milwaukee team apparently wrenching control of the game from their opponent. With Carlos Santana starting the inning on second base, Wiemer hit a double to give them a 2-1 lead. Adames hit a sharp fly to Kiner-Falefa which moved Wiemer to third, and a sac fly from Monasterio to Everson Pereira in left and extended the lead to 3-1.

The Yankees seemed to have lost it, but the rules of the extra inning means that anything can happen. It was Gleyber Torres who started on 2nd, and a homer to centrefield from Stanton tied up the game once more.

In the 13th, the Yankees put their faith in Anthony Misiewicz. This was a helluva time for him to be making his Yankees’ debut. His ERA for June was he was at Detroit was 81.00, and he hadn’t played in the Majors in July and August. The crowd held their collective breath.

With Caratini on second, and Turang having popped out to second, Tyler hit into a 5-3 groundout. The Bronx team seemed to have got through the maze until Misiewicz walked Frelick. Following this with a wild pitch was not the greatest moment of his career either, and the Brewers had runner on second and third with two outs. But it was the pitcher who saved the day, cleanly handling a grounder from Contreras and tossing it to DJ LeMahieu to complete the play and the inning.

Hoby Milner came on to pitch for Milwaukee. It was Pereira who was the ghost runner, but Cabrera struck out swinging to give the Brewers yet again an apparent edge. The edge, however, disappeared instantaneously with Kyle Higashioka hitting a powerful double to leftfield to bring Pereira home, and seal an unlikely win. The Hawaiian had come on as a defensive replacement after Jake Bauers had pinch-hit for Rortvedt after Cole left the game. Higgy is much more likely to hit a double or homer, than simply get on base – and so it had proved.

An overview? Rortvedt slipped back to a .105 batting average, and Pereira was not much better on .150. Milwaukee had figured that if they walked Stanton he would not achieve much – but the home run shows that he still has a little to contribute, even if he is a one trick pony. Judge is still pressing too hard, and his OPS is below 1.000. The only weakness on the pitching was a rare weak performance from Ramirez, who was pressed into a 2 innings session because of a lack of available relievers.

Cole (7 IP, 3 H, 0 BB, 0 R) was as usual the standout, but as we have mentioned Burnes had an unlikely edge. It needed Cabrera and Higashioka’s hits to be added to Stanton’s to take the Yankees over the top in this one.

This is the end of the Yankees’ homestand, but we’ll be back in our usual seats when they’re back in town to face the Blue Jays later in the month.