Gardner's homer stuns Cubs as Yankees rally for 3-2 win
Joe Girardi knows of whence he speaks.
The manager of the New York Yankees is a bright guy as it is, but he also played a few games in capricious Wrigley Field.
Girardi proved prophetic Friday as his Bronx Bombers at first suffered from the elements and then benefited from them in a 3-2 win over the Cubs.
Brett Gardner cracked a 3-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning off Hector Rondon to erase a 2-0 deficit and stun the Cubs.
The day was a cold one, with the wind howling in from left field at 25 miles per hour and gusting to 35 mph. If the ball was going out, it was going out to right field.
Cubs sluggers Kris Bryant and Kyle Schwarber went to right field for solo homers, Bryant in the first inning and Schwarber in the sixth.
Gardner battled Rondon - in the game because closer Wade Davis had worked three straight days and was unavailable - before connecting on a poorly located 2-2 pitch.
The Cubs tried to come back in the bottom of the inning but Aroldis Chapman overcame a leadoff error and shut the door to close it for the Yankees.
"Our guys are used to playing in the cold," said Girardi, a former Cubs catcher, before the game. "What you have to deal with when it's cold here is the wind blowing in. And the games are different. It's different than when the wind is blowing out. You like to say to keep the ball low when you hit line drives. I think you have to take advantage of every little situation on days like this.
"Most ballparks play similar all the time. This does not."
Rondon, who lost his closer's job when the Cubs acquired Chapman from the Yankees last July, got the first out of the ninth before giving up a single to Chase Headly. He struck out Chris Carter before walking Ellsbury, setting the stage for Gardner's homer.
"I was fired up, man," Gardner said. "We were kind of slow all game, and they're winning 2-0 up to last strike in the ninth inning. It feels good to come through in a situation like that."
The wind made Gardner uncertain even as he hit the ball hard.
"The lower you hit it, the better chance you have of it cutting through the wind. I felt pretty good, but I wasn't sure. It felt good to see it go out."
Cubs catcher Willson Contreras stood by Rondon, who let a victory for starter Kyle Hendricks (5 ⅓ shutout innings) slip away.
"He pitched really good; he just made one little mistake," Contreras said. "We're in the big league. The guys make adjustments. If you don't throw the right pitch in the right spot … it was the right pitch but it wasn't in the right spot."
Manager Joe Maddon's Cubs fell to 16-13 after taking three in a row from the Phillies.
"We were short in the bullpen; that was his game," Maddon said of Rondon. "It looked like he had really good stuff. Just really an unfortunate choice, or where he threw it, on that pitch. That's probably the only pitch that Gardner could have hit out, and we gave it to him, and that happens."