Yankees walk‑off Caballero

José Caballero ended the Yankees’ 5-4 win over the Los Angeles Angels with a two-run hit in the ninth inning on April 15 at Yankee Stadium. (mlb.com) The rally turned after Jazz Chisholm Jr. reached on a dropped infield popup, stole second base, and Austin Wells drew a walk against Angels closer Jordan Romano. Caballero then drove in two runs for New York’s second walk-off win of the series. (mlb.com) Major League Baseball’s official recap called the hit a two-run double, while the league’s video clips labeled the same play a walk-off single after replay confirmed the finish at first base. The result was the same: the Yankees erased a 4-3 deficit in their final at-bat. (mlb.com 1) (mlb.com 2) The win moved the Yankees to 10-8, second in the American League East, and it came two days after they beat the Angels 11-10 on a ninth-inning wild pitch that scored Caballero. New York had lost the middle game of the set, 7-1, before pulling out another late comeback. (baseball-reference.com) (espn.com) That sequence put Aaron Boone’s late-game choices back under the spotlight in the season’s third week. Fox Sports’ play-by-play log shows Boone used Brent Headrick in the eighth inning and David Bednar in the ninth before Caballero finished it against Romano. (foxsports.com) Caballero is not one of the Yankees’ headline bats, which is part of why the finish traveled so fast online. He entered the game hitting.186 with a.543 on-base plus slugging percentage, but the New York Post reported that he had driven in seven runs over his previous five games. (sports.yahoo.com) The Angels had an opening to escape before Caballero came up. Shortstop Zach Neto said the dropped popup was “my fault,” and Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said the play was a communication breakdown in a loud ballpark. (mlb.com) Caballero said after the game that he wants those spots, and Boone said he came up “clutch” in the ninth. By Thursday, the Yankees had turned a mid-April home series into another round of questions about who gets the ball late, who gets the at-bat late, and who keeps delivering when the game is on the line. (mlb.com 1) (mlb.com 2)