Sometimes a slumping offense just needs to see an opposing pitcher it routinely hits. Sometimes a slumping offense just needs to catch a break from the opposing defense.<\/p>\n
In Wednesday\u2019s ninth inning, the Yankees were gifted both.<\/p>\n
Bats that seem to be silent against everyone except Jordan Romano these days got to face the Angels closer again. And Romano\u2019s job grew much tougher when a routine pop-up to his infield somehow bounced on the dirt.<\/p>\n
When the frame from Angels hell was over, Jos\u00e9 Caballero had drilled a walk-off two-run double to steal a 5-4 victory in front of 41,019 in The Bronx, where Aaron Boone\u2019s club blew an early three-run edge and was shut out from the third through eighth innings before finding life (and two runs) just in time.<\/p>\n
A hard-to-believe comeback was launched against Romano, who blew Monday\u2019s game when he allowed three runs without recording an out and who owns a 6.17 ERA in 26 career games against the Yankees, who seem to enjoy stepping into the box against the former Blue Jays reliever.<\/p>\n
Austin Wells celebrates with Jazz Chisholm Jr. after scoring the winning run on a walk-off two-run hit by Jose Caballero (not pictured) during the ninth inning of the Yankees\u2019 5-4 wins over the Angels on April 15, 2026 at the Stadium. Brad Penner-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
The second blowup in three days \u2014 which led to the second Yankees walk-off in three days \u2014 was not entirely Romano\u2019s fault. In a frame that began with the Angels ahead 4-3, Jazz Chisholm Jr. lofted a lazy, one-out pop-up to the left side of the infield.<\/p>\n
Third baseman Oswald Peraza seemed early in the ball\u2019s ascent to take charge. Shortstop Zach Neto probably should have called him off because the high pop ended up in his territory.<\/p>\n
Both were unsure who would catch it, and thus neither did.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s go,\u201d went through Boone\u2019s mind as the ball dropped.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll take anything we can get,\u201d said Austin Wells, who followed the pop-up single with a hard-earned walk.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhenever you give us a chance,\u201d Caballero said with a small laugh, \u201cit\u2019s a dangerous thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jos\u00e9 Caballero belts a game-winning two-run double during the ninth inning of the Yankees\u2019 5-4 comeback win over the Angels on April 15, 2026 at the Stadium. Robert Sabo for New York Post<\/p>\n
Two days prior, Caballero had played hero by following Trent Grisham\u2019s game-tying ninth-inning home run against Romano with a double and, with aggression, a stolen base and wild pitch creating the game-winner. This time Caballero\u2019s bat was the star, smacking a hit over Neto and into left-center while Chisholm and Wells were attempting a double steal. Chisholm scored without issue, and third base coach Luis Rojas kept spinning his arm with an audacious send.<\/p>\n
The relay throw beat Wells to the plate but was toward the first base line, allowing Wells\u2019 leg to graze home plate just in timeto jump-start the week\u2019s second game-ending party in The Bronx.<\/p>\n
The Yankees (10-8) have responded to their five-game skid by taking two of three from the Angels and will try to seize the series Thursday afternoon behind Max Fried.<\/p>\n
Luis Gil looks to the outfield as Mike Trout rounds the bases after hitting a two-run homer during the fifth inning of the Yankees\u2019 comeback win over the Angels. Robert Sabo for NY Post<\/p>\n
In the span of 21 pitches from Romano, the feelings around the club were flipped. A few minutes earlier, it had seemed Boone was going to have to answer questions about how this roster had fallen to .500 and why an offense that was baseball\u2019s best last season suddenly could not hit.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not easy for us necessarily right now,\u201d Boone said, \u201cbut just a lot of really gritty plays there at the end.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Yankees were strong defensively, including nice diving plays by Caballero (to retire Peraza in the ninth) and Chisholm (spearing a ground ball from Nolan Schanuel with a dive in the third). <\/p>\n
Aaron Judge drops his bat after hitting a solo home run during the first inning of the Yankees\u2019 comeback win over the Angels. Robert Sabo for NY Post<\/p>\n
Their bullpen \u2014 four scoreless innings from Tim Hill, Fernando Cruz, Brent Headrick and David Bednar \u2014 did everything it could to keep the game close. And their offense eventually found the break it needed and the break that did not seem as if it would arrive.<\/p>\n
Apart from Monday\u2019s 11-run explosion, the Yankees have scored 19 runs in seven games (six losses) against the A\u2019s, Rays and Angels, whose pitching staffs are, well, mortal.<\/p>\n
Wednesday started differently \u2014 against righty Jack Kochanowicz, Aaron Judge clobbered his seventh homer of the season and fourth in four games in the first and Grisham came through with a two-out, two-run single in the second \u2014 but then felt familiar, the Yankees picking up two more hits through the eighth inning. One, from Wells, was a bunt single.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGo beyond the box score with the Bombers\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Yankees by Greg Joyce, exclusively on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
As the early lead disappeared in the fifth, when Luis Gil (five innings, four runs on five hits and two walks) surrendered his second and third home runs of the night, a one-run deficit felt insurmountable.<\/p>\n
But somewhere, Luis Castillo smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery win matters,\u201d Wells said. \u201cDoesn\u2019t really matter how you get it done.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sometimes a slumping offense just needs to see an opposing pitcher it routinely hits. Sometimes a slumping offense…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":199083,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[10094,37072,78235,20,9,11,10,321,319],"class_list":{"0":"post-199082","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-aaron-judge","9":"tag-los-angeles-angels","10":"tag-mike-trout","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-headlines","14":"tag-new-york-news","15":"tag-new-york-yankees","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199082\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}