Yankees 5, Red Sox 4: Chase Headley's walkoff homerun completes Yanks comeback victory

Staring a loss right in the face, the Yankees came from behind to beat the Red Sox on a walk-off homerun by Chase Headley, minutes after a solo homerun by Mark Teixeira tied the game against Koji Uehara in the 9th inning, as the Bombers would beat Boston, 5-4, in the series finale on Thursday night in the Bronx.

David Ortiz had a big night for the Red Sox, blasting a pair of homeruns early in the game that helped the Sox jump out to a 3-0 lead. But in the end, it wasn't enough for his last place Sox to take home the victory.

Chris Capuano suffered possibly his worst start since joining the Yankees, as he failed to go at least five innings for the first time in eight starts, giving up four runs on six hits in just 4.1 innings.

Ortiz put the Yankees on the board in the top of the first inning, crushing a fastball over plate from Capuano into the right field seats, making it a 1-0 game. Ortiz made it a 3-0 game two innings later with another homerun, this time a two-run shot on a hanging breaking ball.

The Yankees came back to tie the game in the bottom half of the 3rd inning. Derek Jeter hit a two-run double into right-center field to pull the Yankees to within a run. The two batters later, Carlos Beltran singled into center field to score Jeter from second base, tying the game at 3-3.

Those were the only three runs that the Yankees were able to grab against Red Sox right-hander Brandon Workman, who was just recently called-up from Triple-A to start the game, Workman gave up just the three runs on five hits, while walking two and striking out five in six innings of work.

Boston took a 4-3 lead on a solo homerun by Brock Holt to open the top of the 5th inning. Capuano would leave the game a batter later, giving the ball off to the Yankees' bullpen, which was able to shut down the Red Sox for the remainder of the game.

Adam Warren was able to get out of trouble in the 9th inning after putting on the first two batters of the inning, retiring the next three he faced to set up the Yankees' win in the 9th.

Teixeira led off the inning with his first homerun in his last 56 at-bats, tying the game at 4-4. Then two batters later, Headley blasted a no-doubt homerun into the right field seats for his second walk-off hit since joining the Yankees.

With this Boston series now wrapped up, the Yankees will welcome the Kansas City Royals to town for a three-game series that starts on Friday night with Michael Pineda and James Shields facing off at 7:05 p.m. ET.

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Thoughts following the Chase Headley trade: low risk, high reward for the Yankees

Brian Cashman made another needed move to improve the team on Tuesday, acquiring third baseman Chase Headley from the San Diego Padres along with about a $1 million in exchange for Yangervis Solarte and minor league pitcher Rafael De Paula.

Headley is a player that the Yankees have had an eye on for a long time, and needing another productive bat in the lineup, Cashman made a deal to get him, even if he's only here through the rest of the season.

Some thoughts on the deal.....

1. Say what you will about Cashman, but he's made two potentially impact deals this month that included the second team paying the Yankees to take a player off their hands. He managed to get Brandon McCarthy and cash from the Arizona Diamondbacks for Vidal Nuno, and now he got Headley and cash for Solarte, a rookie that hasn't been productive since mid-May, and De Paula, 23, who hasn't made it past High-A Tampa yet and has struggled with control issues over the past couple of seasons. De Paula still has big league potential, but Cashman didn't have to give up one of the system's more prominent arms, and that's important.
2. Hitting .229/.296/.355 (88 wRC+) with seven homers and 12 doubles through 77 games this season with the Padres, there is to suspect that Headley, 30, will be able to start hitting a little bit more with the help of the small, hitter-friendly Yankee Stadium, rather than the big and spacious Petco Park -- that's what you have to hope for when a player moves away from a bigger ballpark. Also, he was batting .298/.330/.405 in 21 games since receiving an epidural a couple weeks ago to deal with a back issue that the Yankees believe won't be an issue, so he's coming over to the Yankees swinging a nice bat already.
3. Headley has never been considered a Gold Glove fielder at third base, and even Cashman acknowledged that yesterday, but he's clearly an upgrade over what Kelly Johnson and Solarte player there everyday, with even Zelous Wheeler platooning in and out.
4. Cashman only called Headley a rental yesterday, but you really have to think that if he performs well for the remainder of the season and really likes playing in New York that the Yankees will considering signing him to a multi-year deal with Alex Rodriguez lined up to rejoin the team next spring after sitting out an entire season, adding onto the second hip surgery that he had last season. I've been right along side all of the people that believe A-Rod has played not only his last game for the Yankees, but his last game in professional baseball. Reports from earlier in the year have said that the Yankees would be willing to bring A-Rod back next season if he's able to give them anything productive with the bat. I still don't believe that he'll be back in pinstripes next season, and they could be much better off filling the clear need at third base long-term.
5. Back to talking about the Yankees gave up: De Paula isn't considered a major loss for the farm system. Sign for $500k out of Dominican Republic in 2010, he did not make his pro debut until 2012 due to visa issues and was also suspended one year before signing for lying about his age. He impressed in the first half of 2013, with a 2.94 ERA, 13.43 K/9 and 3.22 BB/9 in Low-A Charleston, but never seemed to adjust once he got to High-A Tampa, with control issues being his biggest problem. Hopefully he finds s good groove in San Diego. But yeah, the Yankees have taken a pair of players that weren't even considered locks to made the team out of spring training -- Nuno and Solarte -- and turned them into half seasons of McCarthy and Headley. In the end, if this fails, the Yankees didn't give up much in the first place.

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Yankees 2, Rangers 1 (F/14): Chase Whitley starts the game, Chase Headley ends the game

I never thought baseball could be this bad.

As the clock struck midnight, Chase Headley, who was not even at the stadium for the first pitch of the game, smacked a walk-off single into left-center field to send the Yankees and their fans home with a 2-1 win over the Texas Rangers nearly five after later in 14 innings.

Jeff Francis made his long-awaited Yankees debut after being acquired by the team about two weeks ago, and took home the win after pitching a scoreless 14th inning.

It was pretty amazing that this game lasted as long as it did, because the Rangers are terrible at baseball and in no way deserved to win this game. With that said, the Yankees hadn't scored a run in 18 innings before tying the game on an RBI single in the 13th, so it's not like they should have won either. But in the end, the team with the most runs wins, and it was the Yankees in this one.

Another Chase, Chase Whitley, started for the Bombers and delivered a decent quality start. He pitched six shutout innings, giving up seven hits while striking out six and walking none. The Rangers never actually put a serious scoring threat together against Whitley; Robinson Chirinos doubled in the 5th, and that was really as close as they got.

Whitley opened the 7th inning on the mound, but Adrian Beltre singled off of him, and that's where Joe Girardi went to the bullpen. He brought in Matt Thornton for a second straight night to face Leonys Martin, who was out after a two-strike bunt foul. Adam Warren then came in, also for the second straight night, and recorded the final two out of the inning.

Dellin Betances worked a scoreless 8th, striking out a pair of hitters. Then David Robertson retired all six batters he faced in the 9th and 10th innings to keep the game scoreless.

The Yankees had a great chance to win the game in the bottom of the 9th inning after Derek Jeter hit a one-out double then the Rangers intentionally walked Jacoby Ellsbury to get to Carlos Beltran, who, naturally, hit into a double play to send the game to extra innings. The Yankees, again, had a pair of runners on in the 11th after Brett Gardner and Jeter walked ahead of Ellsbury with two outs, and he grounded out to end the frame.

The Yankees' best wasted chance of the game came in the 12th, when Beltran opened with a single then moved to second on a wild pitch. Brian McCann "singled on a shallow fly-ball to left field" when it was actually another dropped fly ball on a McCann popup. Ichiro Suzuki sacrificed both runners over, then the Rangers walked Brian Roberts to face Francisco Cervelli with one out and the bases loaded. Cervy ripped a ball to third base, as Beltre snagged it for the out, then Headley grounded out to end the inning.

Texas broke the scoreless tie in the 13th inning when JP Arencibia kicked off the inning with a solo homerun off of David Huff, who pitched two innings. It pretty much seemed like the game was over at that point.

The Yankees, though, tied the game in the bottom half of the inning. Gardner opened with a double, Jeter moved him to third with a bunt, then Ellsbury singled home Ellsbury to make it a 1-1 game. The Yanks were then forced to bring in Francis, the last pitcher in their bullpen. So you know this game had to end quickly, or else Ichiro was going to pitch.

Roberts hit a one-out ground-rule double in the bottom of the 14th, followed by a single from Cervelli, setting up runners on the corners for Headley, who ended the game with his first hit has a Yankee.

The Yankees and Rangers will continue this four-game series on Wednesday night with David Phelps facing Yu Darvish at 7:05 p.m. ET.

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Yankees acquire Chase Headley from the Padres for Yangervis Solarte and minor leaguer

The Yankees are closing in on a deal for San Diego Padres third base Chase Headley, reports the YES Network's Jack Curry. ESPN's Andrew Marchand says that the Yankees will be sending Yangervis Solarte and minor league pitcher Rafael De Paula, who has spent the last couple of seasons in High-A Tampa, to the Padres.

Headley was with the Padres in Chicago, so we'll have to see if he's able to get to New York in time for tonight's game against the Texas Rangers.

Headley hasn't been great since 2012, when he hit .286 with 31 homeruns and 115 RBIs -- he's hitting just .229 with seven homeruns and 32 RBI this season -- but he's still a good switch-hitter that could turn things around in Yankee Stadium, compared to playing in the big, spacious Petco Park.

After turning 30-years-old in May, Headley will be a free-agent after the season, so even if the Yankees aren't able to re-sign him, they never really gave up in the first place. Great move by Brian Cashman for getting a potentially productive hitter for very little.

The Yankees have been interested in Headley for a couple of years, and they have finally gotten their man. It's a start in fixing this team, but there are still more moves to be made.

I would just like to thank the @Padres and the city of San Diego for the best years of my life. I'm excited to join the Yankee organization!
— Chase Headley (@ChaseHeadley7) July 22, 2014

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