Boone, After Latest Comeback, Says Yankees "Always have that confidence they can come through"

 

Photo by Jason Schott.

The Yankees have made a habit of mounting comebacks this season, and Thursday night against the Houston Astros was no exception.

The Yankees were trailing 6-3 heading into the bottom of the ninth inning, and Houston had their closer, Ryan Pressly, pitching, and the Yankees put together a trademark inning. Giancarlo Stanton and Gleyber Torres opened it with walks before Aaron Hicks hit a three-run home run to right field to tie it, the latest clutch hit for the Yankees' left fielder (click here to read more on Hicks' resurgence).

Isiah Kiner-Falefa singled, but he was caught stealing for the first out of the ninth. Jose Trevino then followed with a single, and since Pressly was already at 26 pitches, that was all for his night.

Ryen Stanek was next out of the Houston bullpen, and he struck out Joey Gallo for the second out. DJ LeMahieu walked to give the Yankees two runners on base for Aaron Judge, and he took it the other way, down the right field line, to bring in Trevino and give the Yankees the 7-6 win.

This was the Yankees' 21st comeback victory of the season, and their Major League-leading ninth "walk-off" of the season, and fourth in June. Their nine walk-off wins are already tied for the second-most in a season in the last 13 years since 2010, when they had 11 last season, and nine in 2014.

Yankees Manager Aaron Boone was asked on Friday afternoon about his team's latest comeback win the night before, and he said, "Just again, finding ways to win games, it's been fun, it's been exciting, just the level of confidence the guys are playing with. I think each time you're able to do that, you know, it adds that confidence, and you get comfortable to playing in those close games, or you know, on the nights where we do have to kind of work our way back into it, you know, guys always have that confidence they can come through, and last night embodied that."

This latest Yankees' big win, against the second-best team in the American League, brought their Major League Baseball-best record to 52-18. 

This marks the Yankees' third-best 70-game start in franchise history, trailing only their 53-17 starts in 1928 and 1939 (yes, they have passed the pace of the 1998 team, which was 51-19 through 70 games). 

The 2022 Yankees are also the fourth Major League team in the last 93 years (since 1930) to win at least 52 of their first 70 games of a season, joining the 2001 Mariners (53-17), 1939 Yankees (53-17), and 1984 Detroit Tigers (52-18). The '39 Yankees and '84 Tigers went on to win the World Series, while the '01 Mariners ran into the three-time World Champion Yankees in the American League Championship Series, with the Yankees winning in five games.

The Yankees have also dominated at home in a historic way. They are 30-7 in their 37 games at Yankee Stadium (through Thursday), riding a 15-game home winning streak.

This is the Yankees' longest winning streak at the current Yankee Stadium, and since a 15-game streak from August 16 through September 26, 1961 (yes, that was a pretty good year in Yankee history). It is the fourth-longest home winning streak in franchise history, behind an 18-game streak in 1942 and 16-game streaks in 1938 and 1941. 

The 2022 Yankees are now one of three teams to win at least 15 straight at home in the last 18 seasons (since 2005), joining the Los Angeles Dodgers (20 games from August 30, 2021 through April 18, 2022) and the Arizona Diamondbacks (15 games from August 9-September 10, 2011).