Trent Grisham comes up with big hit with Yankees down to final strike

BOSTON — Down to his last strike against a historically good closer, Trent Grisham rose to the occasion.

The center fielder came through with a two-out, two-strike, game-tying RBI double in the ninth inning, giving the Yankees a chance that they finally capitalized on in an exhilarating and needed 11-8, 10-inning win over the Red Sox at Fenway Park on Saturday.

These days, the Yankees always seem to find a way to lose.

They had made plenty of mistakes entering the ninth inning — from an Anthony Volpe error that led to runs, to a Gleyber Torres mistimed leap that turned an out into a double, to Juan Soto blowing through a stop sign and getting thrown out at the plate and Grisham, too, missing a cutoff man that allowed a Red Sox base runner to take an extra base — which contributed to the one-run hole they found themselves in.

But in the top of the ninth, Ben Rice sent a deep double to center to keep the Yankees alive.

With two outs, up stepped Grisham against Kenley Jansen — who entered play with a 2.97 ERA and has been a dominant closer for 15 years.

Grisham — who was 1-for-7 with four strikeouts in his career against Jansen — quickly fell into an 0-2 hole and a game-ending strikeout seeming inevitable.

“Just stay relaxed,” was the approach, Grisham said.

He fought back.

He fouled one strike off and watched two balls go by.

At 2-2, Jansen tried a cutter that got too much of the plate, and Grisham lifted it to deep left-center.

Left fielder Tyler O’Neill did not have a good feel for the ball’s trajectory and leapt against the Green Monster a few feet away from the ball, which bounded off the wall and became a double that drove in pinch-runner Jahmai Jones and offered something the Yankees have been without: hope.

“Just a really, really strong at-bat,” manager Aaron Boone said after Grisham’s second double of the night, his 14th career game with multiple extra-base hits. “It just felt like he was very under control.”

The Yankees took advantage of the hope in the ensuing innings, when Clay Holmes and a few solid defensive plays kept the Red Sox off the board in the ninth before Torres’ two-run double opened the game up in the top of the 10th.

Before Grisham and Torres, there was Aaron Judge reaching base six times; Juan Soto drilling a two-run homer; Oswaldo Cabrera smacking his own dinger and Alex Verdugo coming through with three hits.

“Just a bunch of timely hitting from a bunch of the guys,” said Marcus Stroman, who only lasted 3 ¹/₃ innings but watched Grisham & friends pick him up.