Yanks win one for The Boss, Sheppard By Tim Britton / MLB.com NEW YORK -- On an emotional night in the Bronx, the Yankees paid tribute to late owner George Steinbrenner the best way they knew how: with a win. And what a win it was. The Yankees came back twice on Friday, rallying in the sixth and eighth innings to tie it before winning it in the ninth, 5-4, on Nick Swisher's two-out RBI single. And as fate or coincidence would have it, in 1979 the Yankees won the first game they played after Thurman Munson's death by a score of 5-4. Facing left-hander Randy Choate, Curtis Granderson led off the inning with a single through the right side. Pinch-hitter Ramiro Pena bunted Granderson to second before Brett Gardner worked out an eight-pitch walk. After Dan Wheeler struck out Derek Jeter, Swisher laced a 2-1 delivery from Lance Cormier into right to score Granderson from second with the winning run and send Yankee Stadium into a frenzy. The Yankees tied the score earlier on a trio of home runs. Robinson Cano and Jorge Posada went back-to-back off James Shields with two outs in the sixth to abruptly tie the game at 3. Two innings later, Swisher greeted Joaquin Benoit with his own drive into the second deck in right. The comeback got CC Sabathia off the hook, sparing him his first regular-season loss at Yankee Stadium in more than a year. Sabathia worked in and out of trouble all evening, limiting the Rays to single runs in the second, third, fifth and seventh innings, but it often could have been worse. Tampa Bay loaded the bases with nobody out in the fifth and seventh yet scored only once each time. Sabathia departed after seven innings, giving up four runs on eight hits with six strikeouts.
