Brett Gardner Wins It for Yankees in 13th

The New York Yankees defeated the Kansas City Royals 3-2 in 13 innings on Saturday afternoon.

Sidney Ponson took the hill for the Yankees. He lasted 6.1 innings, gave up two earned runs on seven hits, walked two, and struck out two.

Zack Greinke was on the mound for the Royals. Greinke went 6.2 innings, gave up two unearned runs on six hits, walked two, and struck out five.

The Royals put their first run of the game on the board in the top of the second. Alex Gordon left the yard for the 14th time this season, giving KC a 1-0 edge.

The Yankees once again passed on a prime opportunity to score runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. With the bases loaded and nobody out, Alex Rodriguez struck out and Jason Giambi grounded into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning. 

KC scored again in the top of the sixth. Esteban German hit a sacrifice fly to score Jose Guillen, and the Royals went up 2-0.

The Yankees finally put up a run in the bottom of the seventh. Robinson Cano tripled to score Rodriguez, and the Yankees cut the lead in half, 2-1.

The Bombers scored again in the seventh with the help of a wild pitch from Greinke with Ivan Rodriguez batting.

As the Yankees failed to score the winning run in the ninth inning, the game remained tied at two, and went on into extra innings.

In the bottom of the 12th, the Yankees had the winning run on third base, and Wilson Betemit struck out to end the inning. It's just another example of the Bombers' struggles with men on base and in scoring position.

In the bottom of the 13th, however, the Yankees ended the game on a walk-off single by Brett Gardner to score Cano, giving the Yankees a 3-2 win over the Royals. It was Gardner's second game-winning hit this season.

David Robertson gets the win, and is 3-0 this season in relief.

Jeff Fulchino gave up the game winner, and is now 0-1.

This was the longest game for the Yankees this season in terms of innings, and the seventh time this year the Yankees walked-off with a win.

The Yankee bullpen used six relievers who tossed 6.2 innings of shutout ball today—a vast improvement over the last few games. Damaso Marte, Brian Bruney, Jose Veras, Edwar Ramirez, Mariano Rivera, and Robertson gave up no runs on only one hit.

"Everybody did well," said Yankee skipper Joe Girardi after the game. "Our pitchers did a nice job of holding them down. I'm very happy we won this game, and we have a chance to take the series tomorrow."

"We finally came through in a tie game. I knew the ball was going through because Tony Pena, Jr. was playing up the middle," said Cano, who scored the winning run from second base, after Saturday's win. "We have to keep working hard."

"We needed to win this game, I don't care who won it for us," said Derek Jeter about the win. "Hopefully we come out tomorrow and do better."

On the downside however, the Yankees left 13 men on base today, and were not hitting with runners in scoring position.

Tomorrow afternoon at 1:05 ET, the Yanks and Royals will play the rubber game of the three-game weekend series in the Bronx.

Mike Mussina (15-7, 3.30 ERA) will be up against Brian Bannister (7-11, 5.36 ERA).