Not only did Alex Verdugo deliver for the Yankees in extra innings in a 6-5 win against the Diamondbacks, but he received a special home run call from the Yankees’ beloved play-by-play announcer, John Sterling.
Tied at 2 in the top of the 10th inning on Wednesday, Verdugo hit a bomb for a two-run home run to give the Yankees a 4-2 lead.
“He hits a high drive to right. That ball is high. It is far, it is gone!” Sterling said as the ball soared 395 feet into right field at 104.9 miles per hour.
“Alex Verdugo. Alexander the Great,” Sterling tagged him as for likely the remainder of his time in pinstripes.
It was Verdugo’s first home run as a Yankee after they acquired him from the Red Sox during the offseason in exchange for reliever Greg Weissert and minor league pitchers Richard Fitts and Nicholas Judice.
“First one with New York, big spot like that, it felt good. Seeing the boys get fired up, everybody’s barking at me, it was one of those ones that just felt good,” Verdugo said after the game.
The Diamondbacks answered in the bottom of the 10th, scoring two runs, including one off an error by Anthony Volpe at shortstop.
The Yankees went on to score two more runs in the 11th inning, Jon Berti scoring off a balk and Aaron Judge’s double knocking in Gleyber Torres.
Clay Holmes was able to hold off the tying run from scoring in the final inning, striking out three batters.
Verdugo, 27, is entering a contract year after batting .264 with a .745 OPS across 142 games last season and he is expected to make $9.2 million next season in the final year of arbitration.
Prior to Wednesday’s game, he held a .143 batting average with a .351 OPS for three hits and one RBI in six game appearances and 24 plate appearances.
Against the Diamondbacks in his home run highlight performance, he went 1-for-4 for a .160 batting average in the sixth spot in the lineup.
