NEW YORK – Cody Ross hit a go-ahead single in the 12th inning, Eric Chavez followed with a three-run double against his former team and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the New York Yankees 6-2 Thursday night after one fan came up with two home run balls, including Francesco Cervelli’s tying drive in the ninth.
The Yankees failed to complete a three-game sweep after learning captain Derek Jeter again fractured his left ankle and will be sidelined until after the All-Star break.
On a strange night that included a pair of catcher’s interference calls against Cervelli, Robinson Cano started New York’s comeback from a 2-0 deficit with a sixth-inning homer off Patrick Corbin.
New York loaded the bases with one out in the eighth against David Hernandez, and Cano was hit by a 1-2 pitch above his left ankle as he tried to check his swing. He headed to first thinking the score had been tied, but umpires ruled he went around too far and called him out.
Hernandez struck out Kevin Youkilis to escape the jam, but Cervelli homered off J.J. Putz with one out in the ninth, a drive into the first row behind the left-field scoreboard. The ball was caught by 35-year-old Zack Hample, author of the book “How to Snag Major League Baseballs.”
Wearing a Diamondbacks cap, he had picked up Didi Gregorius’ first big league home run after the drive — on the first pitch the rookie saw with the Diamondbacks — landed in the third row of the right-field seats in the third inning.
“For those who are ‘calling shenanigans,’ my seat is in LF tonight, but I just so happened to be in RF for Gregorius’s first at-bat,” tweeted Hample, who caught Barry Bonds’ 724th career homer in 2006.
David Phelps (0-1) escaped two-on, none-out trouble in the 11th, but Gerardo Parra doubled leading off the 12th and advanced to third when Martin Prado flied out to Brett Gardner, who made a sliding catch on the center-field warning track.
Paul Goldschmidt reached on the second catcher’s interference call against Cervelli, and Miguel Montero was hit by a pitch, loading the bases. Ross singled to left and Chavez, who spent the previous two seasons with the Yankees, doubled to deep center.
Heath Bell (1-0) pitched the 11th in a game that lasted 4 hours, 11 minutes, for his first decision since Arizona acquired him from Miami during the offseason.
Gregorius, obtained from Cincinnati in December, started the season on the disabled list with a strained right elbow and hit .387 during a rehab assignment at Triple-A Reno. Wearing uniform No. 1, he pulled a 92 mph pitch from Phil Hughes into the third row, then doubled in the fifth, struck out in the seventh and reached on catcher’s interference in the ninth. The 23-year-old, born in Amsterdam and raised in Curacao, has a given name of Mariekson Julius Gregorius. He made his big league debut Sept. 5 with Cincinnati and went 6 for 20.
Corbin, who grew up in the Syracuse suburb of Clay, left 37 tickets for family and friends and they nearly saw him improve to 3-0. Using a sharp slider, the left-hander extended his scoreless streak to 15 innings before Cano homered off an ad above the Yankees bullpen. Corbin allowed two hits in seven innings, struck out seven and walked three, throwing 60 of 94 pitches for strikes and lowering his ERA to 1.43.
Hughes pitched far better than in his first two starts but was done in by Gregorius’ homer and a solo drive to left by Prado leading off the sixth. Hughes, who has allowed five home runs in 14 innings this season, gave up six hits in seven innings with six strikeouts and no walks. He lowered his ERA from 10.29 to 6.43.
NOTES: Arizona RHP Ian Kennedy traveled to Denver ahead of the team for Friday night’s start at the Rockies. … Yankees RF Ichiro Suzuki started against a left-hander for the first time since opening day. He went 1 for 5 and is hitting .190 this season. … It was the 90th anniversary of the opening of the original Yankee Stadium. After setting record-low attendances for new Yankee Stadium on Friday (35,033), Sunday (34,154) and Tuesday (34,107), New York drew 36,033 for the homestand finale. … Goldschmidt has reached base in all 15 games.
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