Teixeira Homers Twice In 14-Inning Win Over Indians

While the Yankees' offense has struggled to hit home runs so far this season, you can't deny that they still have potential. 

The veteran lineup, which includes names such as Carlos Beltran, Brian McCann, and Mark Teixeira, has gone deep just 76 times so far in 2014, tied for ninth in the American League. 

Despite that, the somewhat-inappropriately named Bombers were crushing balls pretty often tonight in Cleveland, clearing the wall three times in a 14-inning, 5-4 win over the Indians.

To start off the unusual night of power, Teixeira knocked an offering from Tribe Starter Josh Tomlin (7 IP, 4 ER) into the right field stands in the top of the fourth, followed later by a sac fly from McCann and another, two-run shot from Teix in the fifth, his team-leading 17th of the year. 

That second drive from the Yanks' first basemen also completed a 3-0 comeback for the Pinstripes, a deficit created in the first when an error by #25 led to a trio of unearned runs, originally appearing to put Brandon McCarthy in an escapable hole.

Fortunetaly, that wouldn't be the case for the newest Yankee, who ended up lasting 6 2/3 frames while allowing just one earned trip around the bases, a scoring that came in the bottom of the aforementioned fifth. 

Strangely, that single crossing of home ended up being crucial in how the contest played out, with neither team breaking the tie from innings 6-13.

Sure, in the tenth, both sides did get men to third, but thanks to heroics from Cody Allen and Shawn Kelley nobody was able to collect the final 90 feet, keeping things even in until the top of the 14th.

In that frame, with two outs and an 0-2 count, New York's Jacoby Ellsbury homered off Vinnie Pestano, finally giving his club an advantage and eventually rewarding Chase Whitley, who retired six of the seven men he faced in the twelfth and thirteenth, with a win, thanks largely in part to David Robertson shutting out the Indians in their last chance.

In other words, this one started badly, got better, and finished perfectly, helping the Yanks pick up games on both the Mariners and Orioles in the Wild Card and divisional standings.