Yankees Rally to End Angel Streak at Nine

To borrow a line from the late, great announcer Jack Buck, the few thousand fans who endured nearly 2 1/2 hours of rain delays and remained in Yankee Stadium well past midnight to witness the very last pitch Tuesday night probably couldn’t believe what they just saw.

Gary Sheffield lined a two-out double off the left-field wall to score Alex Rodriguez from first base with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning, lifting the New York Yankees to a stunning 8-7 victory over the Angels before what remained of a crowd of 36,706 in Yankee Stadium.

Before the decisive 10th, three of baseball’s most dominant relievers coughed up leads, with Yankee closer Mariano Rivera blowing his first save in 13 chances, Angel closer Troy Percival blowing his second save in 11 chances and Angel setup man Francisco Rodriguez’s season-long string of 17 innings without giving up an earned run coming to an end in the eighth.

Sheffield ended the 3-hour 57-minute game at 1:22 a.m. local time -- more than six hours after the first pitch -- when he followed Alex Rodriguez’s single with a bullet off reliever Ben Weber and over the head of left-fielder Jeff DaVanon.

DaVanon leaped near the wall and the ball caromed about 20 feet back toward the field, giving DaVanon virtually no chance at Rodriguez, as the Yankees won for the 11th time in 13 games and ended the Angels’ nine-game winning streak.

“I tell you one thing, you’re not going to see three relievers in the class those guys are -- Rodriguez, Percival and Rivera -- give up leads very often,” Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said. “Let alone one guy, but to see three guys do it on the same night is very, very rare.”

Derek Jeter’s RBI single off Francisco Rodriguez and Angel third baseman Shane Halter’s error enabled the Yankees to score two runs, one earned, to take a 6-5 lead in the eighth.

But Rivera, who began the game with an 0.49 earned-run average in 17 games and hadn’t given up a home run, couldn’t hold it in the top of the ninth. The Angel rally began with first baseman Casey Kotchman’s first major league hit, a one-out single to left.

Angel catcher Bengie Molina, who hit a sacrifice fly in the fourth, worked the count full before lofting a high fly ball to right that barely cleared the wall for a two-run homer that gave the Angels a 7-6 lead.

Then Percival melted down. Jorge Posada singled to center with one out in the bottom of the ninth, and pinch-runner Homer Bush stole second. Hideki Matsui walked, and Ruben Sierra lined an RBI single to center to tie the score, 7-7.

Percival recovered, striking out Enrique Wilson and retiring Kenny Lofton on a fielder’s choice to end the inning, but the Yankees were still alive.

“It was a great ballgame, and I’ve been around long enough to have been on both ends of games like that,” Percival said.

“But Weber shouldn’t have even been out there. I had a one-run lead in the ninth and didn’t get the job done.”

It was a rare off night for an Angel bullpen that had combined for a 1.24 ERA in the previous 17 games. Even right-hander Kevin Gregg had his string of 10 1/3 scoreless innings end when he was nicked for two runs in the fifth.

“When we come out here tomorrow ... well, today ... we won’t even remember this,” Percival said before catching a 2 a.m. bus to the team hotel. “We’re not going to be perfect. That’s a quality team we’re facing. It’s not very often I feel like I have my good stuff and get beat, but I had my good stuff tonight.” Angel right fielder Vladimir Guerrero, who hit an RBI double in the first and scored on Troy Glaus’ ensuing two-run homer, broke a 4-4 tie in the sixth when he blasted his seventh home run of the season to center field off Yankee starter Kevin Brown, who returned after two rain delays, totaling 2 hours 18 minutes, in the fourth inning.

Angel reliever Scot Shields threw 2 1/3 hitless innings, and Francisco Rodriguez took over in the eighth with a one-run lead. But Sierra lined a one-out single to right field, and Lofton hit a two-out single to left.

Jeter, who began the game with a .186 average but showed signs of emerging from his season-long funk with a single in the first and an RBI double in the third, worked the count full.

With the runners moving on his next pitch, Rodriguez hung a slider that Jeter banged into center, tying the score, 5-5. Alex Rodriguez followed with a routine grounder to third, but Halter fumbled the ball. That gave Rodriguez just enough time to beat the throw, as Lofton scored the go-ahead run.