The Yankees had an opportunity to add another all-time highlight to their decades of postseason heroics.
Instead, they ended up on the wrong side of playoff history.
In Tuesday night’s Wild Card Game 1, the Yankees became the first team in MLB postseason history to load the bases with no outs in the bottom of the ninth, then fail to score and lose the game, according to Opta Stats.
“They got us tonight,” manager Aaron Boone said after the Yankees’ 3-1 loss to the Boston Red Sox in the Bronx.
The Yankees loaded the bases against Red Sox closer Aroldis Chapman behind three successive singles by Paul Goldschmidt, Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger, putting the tying run in scoring position and the winning run at first base.
But Chapman bore down to strike out Giancarlo Stanton, induce a flyout from Jazz Chisholm Jr. and strike out Trent Grisham.
The game ended when Grisham foul tipped a 101.2-mph fastball from Chapman into catcher Carlos Narvaez’s glove.
The loss left the Yankees on the brink of elimination in the best-of-three playoff series.
“One hit there, we’d tie the game,” Goldschmidt said. “Unfortunately, it didn’t work out, but a good job to give ourselves a chance. Chappy’s probably been the best reliever in the game this year. … Weren’t able to come through, but if we face him again, hopefully it’ll be different.”
Chapman spent parts of seven seasons with the Yankees from 2016-22, going 1-3 with six saves in 17 playoff appearances.
One of those losses came in Game 6 of the 2019 ALCS, when Jose Altuve struck a walk-off home run against Chapman to send the Houston Astros to the World Series
Another came a year later in the winner-take-all Game 5 of the ALDS, when Mike Brosseau of the Tampa Bay Rays tagged Chapman for a go-ahead home run.
Chapman was left off the Yankees’ playoff roster in 2022 after he missed a workout, and he did not return the following season.
“That’s in the past,” Chapman said Tuesday of how his Yankees tenure ended. “Everybody is entitled to their own opinions. That’s just in the past.”
Chapman, 37, delivered a resurgent season this year, his first with the Red Sox, with 32 saves, a 1.17 ERA and 85 strikeouts in 61.1 innings.
Tuesday marked Chapman’s first four-out save of the year and only his second appearance in which he recorded more than three outs.
Chapman sat through a prolonged top of the ninth in which the Red Sox scored an insurance run and the Yankees made a pitching change.
After loading the bases in the ninth, Chapman said he tried “to calm myself down and tried to executive pitch by pitch.”
“Just had a little momentum,” Judge said. “Goldy starts us off with a great at-bat, driving one to right. I’m just trying to follow suit. Don’t try to do too much. Put the ball in play, especially with our lineup, just keep the train moving. We couldn’t pull away with one there, or two to tie it, but I like us getting a chance to see Chapman.”
