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Game 2: Friday, October 9, 2009 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York
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@ retrosheet.org |
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Late-game heroics from Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira powered the Yankees past the Twins in Game 2 for a commanding two-games-to-none series lead. With the Yankees trailing 3–1 in the bottom of the ninth, Teixeira led off with a single off Twins closer Joe Nathan, and Rodriguez followed with a dramatic game-tying two-run home run into the Yankee bullpen in right center. The Yankees threatened to win the game in the tenth, putting runners on first and third with one out, but Johnny Damon lined out to shortstop Orlando Cabrera and Brett Gardner was doubled off third to end the inning. But the game, and possibly the series, turned in the top of the eleventh when the Twins mounted a threat of their own, beginning with a Joe Mauer base hit later in an at-bat in which he had already been denied a ground-rule double on a blown call by left field umpire Phil Cuzzi, who erroneously called Mauer's drive down the left field line foul. Replays showed the ball tipped off Yankees left fielder Melky Cabrera's glove and land in fair territory by almost a foot. Two subsequent Twins hits moved baserunners up a single base and loaded the bases with nobody out, prompting claims that Cuzzi's officiating error cost the Twins a run and possibly the game. Yankees reliever David Robertson was able to work out of the jam, bringing the total number of runners left on base by the Twins to seventeen. That set the stage for Teixeira, who opened the bottom of the frame by lining José Mijares' 2–1 pitch down the line and just over the left field wall for a walk-off home run. Teixeira's home run was the first of his postseason career and the first postseason walk-off home run by a Yankee since Aaron Boone's series-winner in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS. |