It’s not impossible for a team to win without any extra-base hits and just five in total, but it’s typically not easy. Those instances usually require your opponents messing up on the mound, in the field, at the plate, or a combination of all of the above.
On this day 25 years ago, the Yankees beat the Angels despite recording just five singles and going 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position. It’s just that walking nine times and benefitting from a bases-loaded balk can help quite a bit.
August
13: Yankees 4, Angels 1 (box score)
Record: 63-50 (4 GA in AL East)
The Yankees started the game by going down in order in the first, and then needing Roger Clemens to strand a couple runners in the bottom half of the inning. The offense then struck in the second, but did so without even needing to make contact.
Angels starter Ramón Ortiz began the second inning by walking Bernie Williams and hitting David Justice with a pitch. While Ortiz then got the next two outs, he issued another walk to Jorge Posada, loading the bases. Scott Brosius then stepped to the plate and battled Ortiz for nine pitches and a full count. The ninth pitch was a bit too far outside, walking home a run to get the Yankees on the board.
After that brief scare in the first inning, Clemens then got to work and retired 10 batters in a row, including the final out of the first. In that time, his offense then got him another run that came via an Ortiz assist.
This time around, Justice did lead off the fourth with a single, but Ortiz got wild again, walking Tino Martinez and Jorge Posada, leaving the bags full. However, he had managed to strike out recent acquisition José Canseco and Brosius to get on the verge of escaping the jam. Facing José Vizcaíno with a 2-2 count, Ortiz went to wipe his brow. The issue was that he did so while still on the rubber, which is a no no. Balk was quickly signaled, scoring Justice. To make matters interesting, earlier in the game, manager Joe Torre had been seen talking with umpires mid-inning about something to do with Ortiz’s windup. Entirely possible the balk would’ve been called anyway in that spot, but the Angels’ starter was probably under a closer microscope after that.
The Angels finally got something off Clemens in the fifth inning. After Clemens issued a couple walks himself, a Darin Erstad single scored Adam Kennedy to get Anaheim on the board. Clemens ended up getting through 6.2 innings on the day. He allowed just that one run on four hits and three walks. This game would end up being the sixth of nine consecutive wins he got in games where Clemens got a decision. (There were some no decisions in that time, but he did still pitch pretty well in all but one or two of those.)
Ortiz did end up getting through seven innings without allowing any more runs. Allowing just two runs in seven innings is hardly a bad final line on the face of things, but the runs were almost entirely his doing, and he finished with six walks on the day, even if he allowed just three hits.
The Angels brought in reliever Mike Holtz, but after he got an out to start things off, the Yankees picked up a walk and a single before a Martinez single plated another run. The Angels then went back to the bullpen for Mark Petkovsek, but he continued the theme of the day. Walks to Canseco and Posada loaded the bases and then brought home another run.
Mike Stanton had replaced Clemens in the seventh and got the final out of that frame and the first of the eighth. Torre then went to Mariano Rivera for the final five outs, and those went by without any drama, with Rivera retiring all five batters he faced.
The Yankees did win the hit battle 5-4, but zero of them went for extra bases and only one came with a runner past first base. A win is a win, but in this particular instance, the Angels helped that cause quite a bit.
Read the full 2000 Yankees Diary series here.
