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  Thursday, Sep. 7 8:05pm ET
Royals' 'pen can't close it for Reichert
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME LOG

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- For eight innings, the New York Yankees somehow could not score against Dan Reichert, even though he tied a Royals record with nine walks. But when the Yankees got some help from Kansas City's bullpen, they finally took advantage.

David Justice homered to cap a seven-run eruption in the ninth inning and the Yankees rallied past the Royals 7-3 Thursday night.

Reichert pitched eight scoreless innings despite matching Dick Drago's team record for walks. He allowed only two hits and left with a 1-0 edge.

"It's weird how the game of baseball goes," Reichert said. "At the beginning of the year, if I had walked nine guys we'd be down 9-0. But it worked out for the best today. I think I made some pretty good pitches when I needed to."

The Kansas City bullpen, however, could not hold the lead.

"It was a big win for us," New York manager Joe Torre said. "Any game at this point in the schedule is big, especially coming back."

Jose Canseco drew a leadoff walk in the ninth from Ricky Bottalico (7-5), and pinch-runner Chuck Knoblauch moved to second on Scott Brosius' single.

That was all for Bottalico, who blew his eighth save chance in 23 opportunities, and Kris Wilson relieved. Pinch-hitter Luis Polonia bunted back to the mound, and Wilson made a wild throw to third that scored the tying run.

Jose Vizcaino hit an RBI single for a 2-1 lead, Derek Jeter had an RBI double and Ryan Thompson hit a two-run single. The Royals brought in Scott Mullen, and Justice hit his 36th homer into the right-field bullpen.

"We're going to have to find somebody to get some people out," Royals manager Tony Muser said. "We need somebody who is dependable. Late in the game, we need to throw strikes and get people out."

Mark Quinn and Dave McCarty hit RBI singles in the Royals ninth. Mariano Rivera relieved for the last out, getting his 33rd save.

Denny Neagle (6-4) allowed two hits through seven innings, then gave up two more in the eighth that set up the Royals' first run. He struck out four and walked none.

"That was definitely an interesting game," Neagle said. "I really did feel like it wasn't our night. Especially after we have nine walks and we couldn't get a run across in the first eight innings, you just felt like it was going to be one of those nights."

"I was willing to accept it knowing that I threw the ball well. For us to come back and win it in the ninth was a big lift for us. Some times wins like this can be big character builders," he said.

Carlos Febles' sacrifice fly scored Joe Randa, who had singled, to give Kansas City a 1-0 lead.

The Yankees stranded two runners in each of the first four innings, though none of them advanced as far as third base against the wild Reichert.

New York drew two walks in the eighth, but Reichert induced Jorge Posada to ground into a double play.

Game notes
Jeter was 1-for-5, extending his streak to 32 consecutive games of reaching base safely. ... The Yankees walked 10 times overall. They now have walked 271 times in the 54 games since the All-Star Game (4.9 per game), the most in the majors. Prior to that, they were 17th in the majors with 3.8 per game (316 in 83 games).

 


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