Chase Headley pumped life into the Yankees veins, watched David Ortiz suck it out and Mark Teixeira and Carlos Beltran provide infusions.
Ultimately, homers from Headley in the ninth and Teixeira and an RBI double from Beltran in extra innings weren’t enough for the Yankees to avoid a 6-5 loss that required 19 innings to finish, started in front of an announced Yankee Stadium crowd of 41,292 on Friday night, included a delay caused by faulty lighting, ended after 2 a.m. Saturday morning and required six hours and 49 minutes to finish.
Mookie Betts’ sacrifice fly scored Xander Bogaerts from third in the 19th for the winning run that was set up by a passed ball being charged to catcher John Ryan Murphy.
Headley sent the game into extra innings with a two-out solo homer in the ninth but seven innings later Ortiz’s homered to put the Red Sox in front. Teixeira, hitting right-handed against right-handed knuckleballer Steven Wright, answered with a leadoff homer in the home half of the 16th.
With runners at the corners and one out in the top of the 18th inning Pablo Sandoval stroked an RBI single that put the Red Sox ahead, 5-4. Beltran countered with an RBI double in the 18th that tied the score and should have been caught by left fielder Hanley Ramirez.
As if playing 19 innings wasn’t enough the game was delayed for 16 minutes in the bottom of the 12th when several sections of lights above the foul poles malfunctioned with Beltran at the plate.
Because the Red Sox hit in the top of the 12th with full lights, manager Joe Girardi lobbied the umpires to wait till the lights returned, so the Yankees didn’t have to hit with less light.
“One you tie it you feel you will push through and win it,’’ Brett Gardner said, referring to the Yankees tying the score in the ninth, 16th and 18th. “We had some big moments.’’
The Yankees had another chance in the 19th, but Garrett Jones hit into a game-ending 6-4-3 double play that was started with Bogaerts snagging a hard-hit ball up the middle.
Down to the final out on a night when they showed very little life the Yankees saw Headley send the game into bonus frames with a bottom of the ninth home run off Edward Mujica that reached the second deck in right field and tied the score, 3-3.
Ortiz, who was 1-for-6, launched a 0-2 pitch from Esmil Rogers into the right-field seats with one out in the 16th.
It was Ortiz’s 45th homer and 153rd RBI against the Yankees. Rogers worked 2¹/₃ innings Thursday night and 4²/₃ Friday/Saturday, so he will not be available for Saturday afternoon’s game.
In fact, the 19th was Rogers last inning because Girardi planned to use Jones, a right fielder and first baseman, on the mound if there was a 20th frame.
“We had opportunities, unfortunately we came out on the wrong end,’’ Girardi said of his 1-3 club. “It was one game, felt like six.’’