Justice Caps Yankee Comeback That Was Years in the Making

The New York Yankees love having the Philadelphia Phillies come to their side of town.

David Justice’s single capped the Yankees’ biggest late-inning comeback in 24 years as New York rallied for five runs in the ninth inning and three in the 10th to defeat the Philadelphia Phillies, 9-8, Sunday.

“To this point, it’s probably the most memorable win we’ve had this year,” said Paul O’Neill, who went two for four and scored the winning run.

The Phillies dropped to 0-6 at Yankee Stadium, losing twice in the 1950 World Series and three times two years ago in interleague play. On July 2, 1998, the Phillies had a three-run lead in the ninth before Tino Martinez hit a three-run homer. The Yankees won that one, 9-8, in 11 innings.

On Sunday, the Yankees trailed, 6-1, in the ninth before tying it on Jose Vizcaino’s single.

Then, after Brian Hunter’s two-run homer in the 10th off Mariano Rivera (3-3), O’Neill, Bernie Williams and Justice hit RBI singles off Jeff Brantley (1-4), who walked Chuck Knoblauch leading off and hit Derek Jeter with a pitch.

“We were still confident,” Vizcaino said. “We came back from five runs, so why can’t we come back from two?”

It was the fifth time in team history the Yankees rallied to win when trailing by five runs from the eighth inning on, the first since May 18, 1976, at Cleveland.

“It was an emotional victory for us,” Manager Joe Torre said. “We just fought back too hard to get where we were to go down without a fight.”

After a poor start by Andy Pettitte and 5 1/3 innings of one-run relief by Dwight Gooden, the Yankees trailed by five runs entering the ninth.

“That was a big lift for us,” Torre said. “The fact that he pitched the five-plus innings when we needed someone to stop it right there.”

Gooden, making his first relief appearance and eighth of his career, gave up only Bobby Abreu’s homer leading off the fourth.