NEW YORK (AP)Robinson Canos grand slam gave the New York Yankees a chance. Russell Martins slam gave them the lead. Curtis Grandersons slam gave them the record.
The Yankees became the first team in Major League Baseball history to hit three slams in a game, rallying from an early six-run deficit to mash the Oakland Athletics 22-9 on a wet, wild Thursday.
Youre not going to see it again, probably, Yankees captain Derek Jeter said. You cant explain it.
Funny thing: The Yankees couldve hit even more grand slams, given all the chances the As presented them. Helped by 13 walks, New York batters went to the plate a whopping 16 times with the bases loaded.
Jeter alone came up four times with the bags juiced. He grounded out twice, struck out and walked in those spots. Overall, the Yankees went 6 for 13 with two walks and a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded.
In nearly a century of storied slugging, the Bronx Bombers had never put on a show quite like this. Nobody had, in fact.
Im surprised it hadnt been done before with all the great teams and great individual hitters that have come throughout the course of the game, Granderson said.
With MLB in its 136th year and approaching its 200,000th regular-season game next month, the Yankees knew it was a slammin day. Not until they saw a note posted on the video board about the three slams, however, did they realize exactly what theyd achieved.
This game has been played for a long time. Pretty much everything has already happened, Martin said.
Except this.
Definitely cool. It was fun to be part of it, Martin said. When theres nowhere to put them, they have to throw strikes.
Martin homered twice and doubled, setting career highs with five hits and six RBIs. Cano and Granderson each drove in five runs as the Yankees pulled off their biggest comeback win since 2006 and avoided a three-game sweep.
On a dreary afternoon, some fans headed home with the Yankees trailing 7-1 after three innings and rain still falling in a game that began after an 89-minute delay.
Turns out they missed the Yankees coming homeover and over and over.
Cano began the barrage with his slam in the fifth, a clean shot into the lower deck in right field off starter Rich Harden that made it 7-6.
Martin connected in the sixth off Fautino De Los Santos, a fly that barely made it over the auxiliary scoreboard in right for a 10-7 lead.
Granderson took his turn in the eighth, launching a no-doubt drive into New Yorks right-center field bullpen with two outs off Bruce Billings.
It was the Yankees highest-scoring game since they got 22 runs at Boston in 2000, and it tied the team record set in 1931 for most runs in a home game.
The 22 runs marked the most allowed by the Athletics since 1955, when they were based in Kansas City and lost 29-6 to the Chicago White Sox.
It only counts as one (loss), but it was definitely embarrassing, Oakland interim manager Bob Melvin said.