Aaron Hicks’ walk-off clinches Yankees’ playoff berth

The Yankees beat the Orioles, 3-2, in 11 innings, on Aaron Hicks’ walk-off double, which scored a headfirst-sliding Didi Gregorius.

NEW YORK — At about 7 p.m., it was finally up to the Yankees.

North of the boarder, the Rays had just lost to the Blue Jays. A Yankees win would give them, at the very least, a spot in the American League Wild Card Game for the second straight year.

An hour later, they were celebrating one of their most hard-fought wins of the year, a 3-2, 11-inning victory over the Orioles at Yankee Stadium.

Didi Gregorius’ mad dash and headfirst slide was the deciding run.

It came on a double to the left field corner from Aaron Hicks off reliever Aaron Fry. Hicks’ liner rattled in the corner. Third base coach Phil Nevin emphatically sent Gregorius home and the ball appeared to hit him as he slid.

Gregorius immediately got onto his knees, spread his arms and his team raced out to greet him at home plate. Then they turned their attention toward Hicks and celebrated in the infield.

Just before the clutch moment, Hicks fouled a ball off his back right foot, and he doubled over in pain — twice — as the Yankees’ trainer checked on him. Eventually, he convinced manager Aaron Boone to let him stay in the game.

The final push started with Gregorius’ line-drive single to shallow right with no outs.

Too close

Tommy Kahnle pitched a clean 11th, just before Jonathan Holder took over for the Yankees in the 10th and immediately put them into trouble, loading the bases with one out before improbably escaping.

Holder surrendered a first-pitch double to the right-field corner to DJ Stewart.

In the next at-bat, Jonathan Villar tapped one to second base. First baseman Luke Voit took at step toward it, tried to reverse back to his bag, but was too far away. Holder wasn’t fast enough to beat a Villar, sliding headfirst, there, and suddenly there were runners on the corners with no outs. Villar moved to second on a no-throw stolen base to add pressure.

A hard groundball to shortstop Didi Gregorius led the Yankees to walk Trey Mancini to and load the bases for struggling slugger Chris Davis, who hit a rope at Voit. Voit dived and snagged it for out No. 2. Breyvic Valera popped out to shallow right to end the threat.

Everything before

Solo homers from Aaron Hicks and Luke Voit handed the Yankees a two-run lead in the second inning.

Around noon, Boone said at a press conference that he considered Hicks one of the “most underrated players in the game.” The center fielder backed up the compliment with a shot to right field, his 26th of the year, a career-high.

Then after Miguel Andujar singled but got thrown out trying to stretch a liner into the right-center gap into a double, Voit launched his 11th blast as a Yankee and 12th of the year. It traveled 430 feet and over the Yankees’ bullpen in right-center field.

Catcher Gary Sanchez gifted the Orioles a third-inning run.

He outright dropped a Lynn curveball. It trickled away from him for a passed ball and a runner moved from second base to third. An at-bat later, Cedric Mullins’s swinging bunt put the ball right in front of Sanchez. He rushed the throw over first baseman Luke Voit’s head and toward the base line. The runner scored from third and Mullins was safe at first.

In the fifth, the Yankees would have lost the lead, if not for Aaron Judge’s arm.

Lynn, in his last inning of work, gave up a one-out double to Steve Wilkerson to left field. When Caleb Joseph’s hard groundball made it through the right-side hole, Wilkerson rounded third base and chugged home. Judge came up firing and threw Wilkerson out at home by a half-step, with Sanchez tagging Wilkerson’s back leg as his front leg slid over the plate.

Still, Baltimore got the tie. DJ Stewart singled with runners on the corners to score a run. It was the third straight single Lynn gave up. Lynn actually walked the bases loaded in the next at-bat, but third baseman Miguel Andujar made an impressive backhand stop and tagged the base to end the inning.

Things to know

Aroldis Chapman, working his way back from a long DL stint due to left knee tendinitis, was used in the seventh inning. He didn’t give up a run and struck out two.

The Yankees had a great chance at getting ahead in the seventh.

Gleyber Torres doubled to left field and then moved to third on a passed ball. But he broke for home immediately on Andrew McCutchen’s hard grounder to third base. Caleb Joseph’s throw home picked him off easily.

Dellin Betances, pitching in his third straight game, worked a scoreless eighth.

Longtime Oriole Zach Britton handled the ninth inning for the Yankees, stranding a runner at second base.

Next

Yankees lefty J.A. Happ (16-6, 3.62 ERA) vs. Orioles righty Alex Cobb (5-15, 4.90 ERA) at 1:05 p.m. Sunday at Yankee Stadium.

Brendan Kuty may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.