Gardner's walk-off RBI seals Yanks' sweep

JustinVerlander35 · Jun 16, 2011

A day before he put pen to paper, before he could put on a Major League uniform for the first time in three years, Brian Gordon went to a field across the street from Yankee Stadium.

Thirty-two years old and not yet officially a Yankee, Gordon tossed with baseball operations assistant Brett Weber, catching the eye of one passerby who stopped to say Gordon had a nice arm.

Unbeknownst to that observer, Gordon would take the mound one block over for the real thing the next day.

The New York-born, Texas-raised Gordon gave the Yankees everything they could have hoped for, and then some, in his first career start Thursday against the Rangers, a 3-2, 12-inning win that completed a three-game sweep and made this 10-game homestand a winning one after it began with three straight losses.

Brett Gardner won the game with a one-out single off Michael Kirkman in the 12th, driving home Curtis Granderson for the game-winning run, Gardner's third career walk-off RBI.

"Unbelievable," said Gardner, who once again did not start against a left-hander, but came off the bench to go 2-for-2. "[Gordon] turns up; nobody even knew who he was, to be honest. But he took the mound for us today and gave us six strong innings, threw the ball great, really had command of all his pitches. He stayed ahead and gave us a chance to win. It was great."

Gordon, who was signed Thursday, started the game that Cory Wade, called up before Wednesday's game, ended up winning by pitching a perfect 11th and 12th innings. Wade notched his first win in two years.

Gordon gave him the chance to do that with 5 1/3 strong innings. His first pitch as a Yankee, a 91-mph fastball that went off Ian Kinsler's bat and into Granderson's glove in center, came at 1:08 p.m. One-hour and 43-minutes later, he walked off the field to a standing ovation with two runs allowed and 84 pitches under his belt.

"He located," Texas' David Murphy said. "He's not your ideal big league pitcher, but he's obviously been in this game a long time. Being around so long, you know he's a fighter. He's got a bulldog mentality."
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Read More- http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2011_06_16_texmlb_nyamlb_1&mode=recap_home&c_id=nyy

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Gardner's walk-off RBI seals Yanks' sweep

JustinVerlander35 Bringin' the Heat

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Gardner's walk-off RBI seals Yanks' sweep

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