SEATTLE — Nobody in either clubhouse had ever seen it happen before.
When the New York Yankees threw out the Seattle Mariners’ Julio Rodriguez at third base because Rodriguez forgot to return to the bag after nearly getting hit by a flying baseball bat, it stunned just about everyone at T-Mobile Park.
And it was a huge reason the Yankees held on for a 2-1 victory in 10 innings Wednesday night to clinch the American League’s first postseason berth.
“That’s one that I’ve never seen and I don’t know if I’ll ever see it again,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.
“I’ve asked a few guys and all of them had said (they) never seen that on a baseball field,” Rodriguez said.
“Kind of a freak thing,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said.
Heads up play from the Yankees’ defense 💪
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Of course, there was much more that led to a wild celebration inside the Yankees’ clubhouse.
When it was all over, they entered their clubhouse lined with wall-to-wall sheets of plastic and sprayed dozens of bottles of J. Rogét champagne and hundreds of cans of Budweiser on each other.
They seemed to celebrate extra hard since many of them were on last year’s team that missed the playoffs and finished fourth in the American League East.
The Yankees improved their division lead to a season-high five games on Wednesday. They have 10 regular-season games remaining and could sweep the Mariners on Thursday.
But before all that, starting pitcher Nestor Cortes continued his recent dominant run by giving up no runs over six innings, striking out six while walking three and giving up four hits.
First baseman Anthony Rizzo drove in both runs, including an RBI double down the right-field line on the first pitch of the 10th inning to score extra-innings runner Jasson Domínguez from second base for the go-ahead score.
In the seventh inning, former closer Clay Holmes gave up a solo shot to Justin Turner that tied the game at 1-1 and seemed to switch the momentum in Seattle’s favor.
Still, the biggest moment came with runners on the corners with no outs and Yankees reliever Ian Hamilton facing Randy Arozarena in the 10th inning.
Hamilton started the inning by giving up a jam-shot single to Cal Raleigh, moving Rodriguez to third base. But with the count 2-2 to Arozarena, Hamilton got him to whiff at a slider.
That’s when things got wild.
Arozarena’s bat slipped out of his hands and hurtled toward Rodriguez, who dodged it by running out of the baseline into foul territory. The upside? Rodriguez didn’t get hit. The downside? He thought play had been stopped to collect the bat. He didn’t immediately return to the bag.
“Honestly,” Rodriguez said, “I just saw a bat flying out to my face and I just ran away from it. After that, just a little bit of shock and I didn’t get back on third base on time.”
Third baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. sensed opportunity. He yelled at catcher Austin Wells to throw him the ball.
“(Rodriguez) just ran for safety,” Chisholm said. “He didn’t come back to the base. I was telling Wells, ‘Come on, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter. The play is not dead.’”
Wells ran toward Rodriguez and threw the ball to Chisholm, who tagged out Rodriguez as he tried to slide head-first back into third base.
“It was huge, bro,” Chisholm said.
That set the stage for Hamilton to end the game, striking out Turner.
And it came after the Mariners committed another huge error at third base in Tuesday’s game. Victor Robles tried to steal home with the bases loaded and the count 3-0 with two outs in the first inning, but starting pitcher Luis Gil threw Robles out. It stopped the Mariners’ momentum and the Yankees won 11-2.
Boone called both plays “gifts our way.”
“Two plays down at third on back-to-back nights — pretty amazing,” Boone said.
“We had two crazy plays that I hadn’t seen before really in playing,” Wells said. “They keep us on our toes. That was a lot of fun.”
“The base running plays were such game-changers for us,” Rizzo said.
Rodriguez still seemed stunned by what happened Wednesday. He called it “such a weird play.”
“After I saw the bat, I thought it was going to be a dead play and then they would pick up the bat,” he said. “Then I was trying to go back to third but … I turned my back on the field, and I hear the manager yelling to get back to third. That’s when I (tried to go) back to third. At that moment, I wasn’t really thinking about the game. Just tried getting away from the bat coming at me. That’s what happened. That was a first for me, for sure.”
“It just looked like a reaction and kind of a ‘get out of the way’ and I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before in a game,” Wilson said. “Just a strange situation.”
A strange situation that helped lead to a champagne celebration for the Yankees.
(Photo of Aaron Judge, Austin Wells and Yankees teammates celebrating clinching a playoff spot: Stephen Brashear / Getty Images)
