Yankees’ Neil Walker provides walk-off win in 11th vs. A’s | Rapid reaction

Yankees first baseman Neil Walker hits walk-off single in the 11th inning to give the Yankees a 7-6 over the A’s at Yankee Stadium on Saturday.

NEW YORK — Luis Cessa dumped bags of peanuts on Neil Walker’s head. Tommy Kahnle hugged him and repeatedly smacked him on the back, like he was choking. There was lot of Gatorade.

It was the Yankees’ fourth walk-off win of the season.

Walker’s looping single to center in the 11th inning gave the Yankees a 7-6 win over the A’s at Yankee Stadium on Saturday.

Gary Sanchez scored standing up when the throw from the outfield sailed high and wide of home plate.

Walker got to the plate because Giancarlo Stanton drew a one-out walk, which Gary Sanchez followed with a fielder’s-choice grounder. Then Aaron Hicks walked, setting up Walker, who slapped reliever Chris Hatcher’s 93-mph fastball to center to give the Yankees the victory.

The Yankees (27-12) — coming off losses to the Red Sox on Thursday and the A’s on Friday — avoided their first losing streak of more than two games this season.

They had lost consecutively four times this year. They started the day tied with the Red Sox for first place in the American League East.

The Yankees got a huge assist from A.J. Cole. He hadn’t pitched since April 28 and held the A’s scoreless in the 10th and 11th innings, striking out four batters. Cole escaped the 10th after walking the first two batters.

Aroldis Chapman made the ninth inning an adventure.

The closer walked three straight hitters with his fastball velocity down to mostly around 96 mph from its usual 100 mph and he was all over the place. Pitching coach Larry Rothschild checked on him once and the training staff examined his pitching hand, apparently checking his fingernails.

After striking out Mark Canha with the bases loaded, Chapman got pinch hitter Jonathan Lucroy to hit a fly to shallow left-center. Brett Gardner caught it and fired a one-hopper home. Matt Olson was initially called safe at home.

The Yankees challenged and the call was flipped when it was shown catcher Gary Sanchez nipped the back of the jersey of Olson, who tried a hook slide. If Olson had used his feet to slide (or worn a jersey a size smaller), he would have been safe. That let the Yankees get to the bottom of the ninth.

The Yankees jumped out to a 2-0 lead on back-to-back home runs from Sanchez (10) and Aaron Hicks (3) before Yankees starter Domingo German coughed up five runs in the fourth inning and another in the fifth.

But the Yankees battled back with a four-run fifth to tie the game at 6-6.

It was the first time in franchise history the Yankees had three 10 home-run players (also Aaron Judge and Didi Gregorius) before the team’s 40th game played, via researcher Katie Sharp.

Hicks had a chance to blow it open in the sixth. He worked a full count with the bases loaded, only to hit a weak ground ball to first base, ending the threat.

It started with a Gardner walk, which Judge followed with his own walk before Sanchez knocked a two-out single to load the bags.

Judge’s 11th homer of the season — a long, two-run shot over the left-field wall — highlighted the Yankees’ four-run fifth. RBI singles from Neil Walker and Miguel Andujar tied the game. Gleyber Torres, who struck out three times, recorded his third swinging whiff to end the inning.

German’s afternoon started the same way his last outing went. After throwing six no-hit innings in his first career big-league start, German didn’t give up a hit until Mark Canha singled with one out in the third.

German got blown up in the fourth — though he didn’t exactly get help from the plate ump. Khris David knocked his second home run in as many days, tearing a three-run shot to put the A’s up, 3-1, with one out. 

Canha then ripped a two-out single with two men on, scoring both runs. It came immediately after German and Yankees manager Aaron Boone complained to plate umpire James Hoye about a pitch they felt was a strike three but he called a ball.

Gregorius came into the game 0-for-his-last-28 and went hitless in his first two at-bats. Then he singled in the fifth inning. When he got to first base, he turned to coach Reggie Willits and yelled, “Wow!”

NEXT

Sunday: Yankees righty Luis Severino (5-1, 2.22 ERA) will face A’s lefty Brett Anderson (0-1, 8.68 ERA) at 1:05 p.m. at Yankee Stadium.

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