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Damon's six hits lift Yankees to wild win

Jun 7, 2008 - 10:57 PM By Larry Fleisher PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

BRONX, New York (Ticker) -- On a record-setting day at Yankee Stadium, Johnny Damon was the last man standing. The last thing he wanted to do was spend another inning in the field.

Damon went 6-for-6, including a two-out single off Joakim Soria that scored Wilson Betemit with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning, as the New York Yankees rallied for a wild 12-11 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Saturday.

When Damon's winning hit landed just inside the right-field foul line, he had tied an American League record for hits in a game and became the first Yankee with a six-hit game at Yankee Stadium. The only other Yankee with six hits in a nine-inning contest was Myril Hoag, who did it on June 6, 1934. Gerald Williams collected six hits in a 15-inning contest against Baltimore in 1996.

Jason Giambi, Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada homered for the Yankees, who had a season-high 19 hits and won for only the third time in 30 games this season when trailing after seven innings.

"It was kind of the last man standing," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "It was a quite a game. It was a lot of offense and what can say about Johnny Damon, 6-for-6."

Damon, who tied the game, 10-10, with a two-run single in the eighth, wasn't sure that his game-winning hit would land fair.

"It actually started a little off the line in fair territory," he said. "But it eventually cut back over and it was a fair ball."

The big day by Damon, who also drove in four runs, sent the Yankees to their second walk-off win in three games. Giambi hit a walk-off two-run homer as a pinch hitter to give the Yankees a 9-8 victory over Toronto on Thursday.

Damon's first walk-off hit as a Yankee came after an awful outing from Andy Pettitte, who gave up a grand slam to Jose Guillen and allowed 10 runs to match a career high.

It also came on the same day that Mariano Rivera surrendered a solo home run to David DeJesus in the top of the ninth that staked the Royals to an 11-10 lead.

After DeJesus' blast off Rivera stunned the crowd, the Yankees went to work against Soria (0-1), who had converted his first 13 save opportunities this season.

With one out, Posada hit a first-pitch fastball over the right-field wall. Following a groundout by Robinson Cano, Betemit drew a walk and advanced to second on an infield single by Melky Cabrera, setting the stage for Damon.

"I tried to get on base," Damon said "His pitches were quite up in the zone. I faced him yesterday and he had a pretty good cutter, so I was trying to stay inside the ball "

Damon capped a three-hour, 50-minute marathon by lining Soria's 3-1 pitch into the right-field corner.

"Not a whole lot of guys go 6-for-6," Posada said. "So, we were hoping that he kept going. He did. He had a amazing day."

Damon, whose six hits came one day after his 14-game hitting streak was snapped, expressed relief that he did not have to spend another inning playing defense in the humid conditions.

"That we don't have go out for defense again, I think that was the biggest thing," Damon said. "As the game went on, we were pretty tired, especially me. I ran around a lot today."

Damon spent part of the day watching two home runs from Guillen sail over the left-field wall. Guillen homered in the first and then connected for his fourth career grand slam in the seventh.

It appeared that Guillen's franchise record-tying seven RBI day would be enough to give Kansas City consecutive wins at Yankee Stadium for the first time since August 1999. But the Yankees twiced erased four-run deficits.

"We gave it away three separate times," Royals catcher John Buck said.

"I didn't have luck today," Soria added. "I tried to do my best. They hit my best and we lost."

The Yankees, who had earlier rallied from a 5-1 deficit, pulled within 10-8 in the seventh, when Rodriguez blasted a two-run homer off Brett Tomko into the visiting bullpen. Rodriguez became the first Yankee to hit a ball that far in the new Yankee Stadium.