For eight innings, the Yankees-Royals game on September 7, 2000 looked like it was going to be a tough-luck loss. Neither team managed to scratch across a singular run until the Royals did so in the home eighth. After being deadlocked for seven-plus innings, all of a sudden the Yanks had three outs with which to make hay.
What followed was a topsy-turvy top of the ninth where the Bronx Bombers put a touchdown on the board. Undoubtedly stunned, the Royals managed to eke out a couple runs in the bottom
of the frame but the deficit was too much.
September 7: Yankees 7, Royals 3 (box score)
Record: 79-58, .577 (6 GA)
Midseason acquisition Denny Neagle had the ball for the Yankees. And although he received no tangible reward for it, he was brilliant on this occasion. There was little reason to think he’d spin a gem. In his three most recent outings, Neagle allowed 14 runs in 19.1 innings, surrendering five long balls during that span.
On this night, Neagle was nigh-unhittable. Actually, for the first half of the game he was literally unhittable. The Royals didn’t manage a baserunner or hit against Neagle until the home fifth when Joe Randa poked a two-out single.
Meanwhile, the Yankee offense was doing everything except score runs. In each of the first four innings, the Yanks put multiple runners on base facing Royals starter Dan Reichert.
Neagle and Reichert continued trading zeroes through the seventh. In the top of the eighth, New York squandered yet another chance. This time they managed to put runners on first and second with one out. Unfortunately, Jorge Posada grounded into the old 6-4-3 double play to end the threat.
It looked like that failure to score would be fateful. Randa managed another knock off Neagle leading off the eighth for Kansas City and advanced to third after a Dave McCarty and a sacrifice bunt by Héctor Ortiz. One sacrifice fly later and Kansas City led 1-0 despite Neagle’s brilliance. Just an outstanding example of situation baseball from Kansas City.
With Reichert at 110 pitches through eight, the Royals turned to the bullpen. And that was a fateful decision. The first two Yanks reached base to start the ninth via a walk and a single. Royals skipper Tony Muser quickly made another pitching change. The results did not get any better for the home team.
Luis Polonia, pinch-hitting for Clay Bellinger, bunted back to the pitcher, who promptly threw the ball away trying to nab the lead runner. The E1 enable the Yankees to tie the game at one. From there, José Vizcaíno, Derek Jeter, and Ryan Thompson went single, double, single. Their combined efforts plated four more runs and prompted another pitching change.
Two batters later, facing the third Royals reliever of the inning, David Justice delivered the crushing blow. His two-run bomb extended the Yankees lead to 7-1, capping off an amazing ninth inning.
Kansas City valiantly tried to fight back in the home half and managed a couple of runs off Jason Grimsley and Craig Dingman. But as always, Joe Torre had the ultimate problem solver at his disposal. With two outs, the score 7-3, and Royals on the corner, Torre summoned Mo. A quick 6-3 groundball put out later and this one was over.
If ever a game embodied Yankee legend Yogi Berra’s “it ain’t over till it’s over” aphorism, it’s gotta be this one. Facing imminent defeat, the offense came alive just in time, swarming the Royals. The win kept the Yankees’ division lead at six games over the Red Sox, and extended it to 8.5 over the fading Toronto Blue Jays, who lost that day to fall another game back.
Next up, four games with the Red Sox. The vibes heading into that series might have been different had the Yankees failed to come back and win this one.
Read the full 2000 Yankees Diary series here.
