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  Sunday, Jul. 16 1:05pm ET
Justice caps miracle comebacks
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME LOG

NEW YORK (AP) -- The New York Yankees love having the Philadelphia Phillies come to their side of town.

David Justice's single capped the Yankees' biggest late-inning comeback in 24 years as New York rallied for five runs in the ninth inning and three in the 10th to beat the Philadelphia Phillies 9-8 Sunday.

Dave Justice and Joe Torre and Paul O'Neill
Dave Justice, second from right, celebrates his game-winning hit with Yankees manager Joe Torre (6) and teammates on Sunday.

"To this point, it's probably the most memorable win we've had this year," said Paul O'Neill, who went 2-for-4 and scored the winning run.

The Phillies dropped to 0-6 at Yankee Stadium, losing twice in the 1950 World Series and three times two years ago in interleague play. On July 2, 1998, the Phillies had a three-run lead in the ninth before Tino Martinez hit a three-run homer. The Yankees won that one 9-8 in 11 innings.

On Sunday, the Yankees trailed 6-1 in the ninth before tying it on Jose Vizcaino's single.

Then, after Brian Hunter's two-run homer in the 10th off Mariano Rivera (3-3), O'Neill, Bernie Williams and Justice hit RBI singles off Jeff Brantley (1-4), who walked Chuck Knoblauch leading off and hit Derek Jeter with a pitch.

"We were still confident," Vizcaino said. "We came back from five runs, so why can't we come back from two?"

It was the fifth time in team history the Yankees rallied to win when trailing by five runs from the eighth inning on, the first since May 18, 1976, at Cleveland.

"It was an emotional victory for us," manager Joe Torre said. "We just fought back too hard to get where we were to go down without a fight."

After a poor start by Andy Pettitte and 5 1/3 innings of one-run relief by Dwight Gooden, the Yankees trailed by five runs entering the ninth.

"That was a big lift for us," Torre said. "The fact that he pitched the five-plus innings when we needed someone to stop it right there."

Ryan Thompson reached on a throwing error by shortstop Desi Relaford leading off, Scott Brosius singled and Steve Schrenk forced in a run with walks to Knoblauch and Jeter.

O'Neill's sacrifice fly off Bryan Ward made it 6-3, Williams singled home a run and Justice walked, reloading the bases.

Martinez's short fly ball to right fell in front of a diving Bobby Abreu to make it 6-5, Jorge Posada took a called third strike and Vizcaino, pinch hitting for Thompson, lined a single off the glove of Scott Rolen at third. Scott Brosius then popped out.

"That was the biggest play in my mind," Rolen said. "If I make that catch, we win the ballgame."

Rivera got in trouble after Rolen opened the 10th with a single, allowing the two-out homer to Hunter. But Brantley. who blew his third save chance in four tries after converting 13 straight, was hit hard again in the bottom half.

"The last three games we've lost have been because of me. That's no fun," said Brantley, who compared his work to batting-practice pitching. "You think I'd be able to do better than that. I didn't make one pitch."

Philadelphia starter Paul Byrd had scattered five hits in 6 2/3 innings, while Pettitte made his quickest exit in over a year. Byrd was nearly scratched from the start because of a stiff neck.

"I knew our team was hurting, so my goal was to just go pitch by pitch," Byrd said. "Then I looked up and we had gotten through six innings."

Byrd, who allowed only Williams' 21st homer in the fourth, has not allowed more than three runs in any of his five starts since his June 18 recall from Triple-A Scranton. He lowered his ERA to 5.87.

Pettitte lasted only 2 2/3 innings, his shortest outing since also getting eight outs against Cleveland on June 2, 1999. He allowed five runs and nine hits -- six in the third.

Gooden, making his first relief appearance and eighth of his career, allowed only Abreu's homer leading off the fourth.

Philadelphia took a 1-0 lead in the first on Rolen's RBI single.

Pettitte got behind nearly every hitter and it caught up with him in the third, when Kevin Jordan, Hunter and Tom Prince had RBI singles for a 4-0 lead and Doug Glanville chased Pettitte with a sacrifice fly to deep center. Gooden retired Ron Gant on an inning-ending groundout.

Game notes
The Yankees recalled INF Clay Bellinger from Triple-A Columbus and sent Luke Wilcox down before the game. ... Former Yankees OF Tim Raines, hoping to make the U.S. Olympic team, was in attendance. Raines was slated to take part in Saturday's Old Timers Day festivities, which were rained out. ... Byrd's ERA was 7.86 when he was sent down June 2. ... Gooden, who pitched four times in relief last season with Cleveland, worked 4 1/3 relief innings on July 10, 1999, for his previous high.
 


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AUDIO/VIDEO
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 Joe Torre talks about the Yankees' huge comeback Sunday.
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 Dave Justice says the Yankees are capable of big innings.
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