As Knicks Stun Celtics In Playoffs, Padres And Yankees Display Three Nights Of Drama

New York Yankees’ J.C. Escarra, center, celebrates with teammates after hitting a walk-off sacrifice ... More fly ball during the 10th inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres Wednesday, May 7, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II) The actual playoffs were being held about 200 miles away where the New York Knicks eventually overcame a second straight 20-point deficit to beat the Boston Celtics by one point in Game 2 of the second round. While many at Yankee Stadium or almost everyone was keeping tabs on the Knicks, the San Diego Padres and New York Yankees engaged in three games with a postseason vibe to it, similar to how the Dodgers and Yankees faced each other in June last season before actually getting together for a television network’s dream World Series. For eight hours and 41 minutes, the Padres and Yankees engaged in a series of interesting twists and turns and saving their most compelling plotline until Wednesday night. The Padres already are armed with good pitching to compete against the Dodgers and it was on full display when frequent Yankee trade rumor target Dylan Cease took the mound. With Cease on the mound, it was interesting in the opening innings and then really, really interesting in the middle innings and then super interesting by the time he took the mound for the seventh. The first 82 pitches were a no-hit bid for Cease, who threw a 114-pitch no-hitter July 25 in Washington, doing so three-plus years after Joe Musgrove was the first Padre to achieve the feat. Then he mislocated a 98-mph fastball to a left-handed hitter and the bid at history and stress for some ended when Cody Bellinger got a hold of it and sent it into the second deck in right field. Cease might have pitched beyond the seventh but then his right forearm cramped up, which in this era of pitching injuries would rank as significantly better than other types of forearm ailments. “He threw the ball great,” San Diego manager Mike Shildt said. “He got a little cramp, felt it, and to his credit, said something about it. He said he could’ve kept going. But it didn’t make sense in the moment. So we’ll evaluate it.” By all evaluations Cease should be fine, much like Corbin Burnes was on Sept. 9, 2023 in Yankee Stadium. Burnes took a small tumble on the final out of the seventh and pitched eight hitless innings in a game that saw the Brewers no-hit the Yankees for 10 1/3 innings before losing in the 13th. San Diego Padres’ Dylan Cease pitches during the first inning of a baseball game against the New ... More York Yankees Wednesday, May 7, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II) Cease was that good, drawing raves from the Padres’ clubhouse. “Legitimate no-hit stuff,” Shildt said. “Unreal,” Jackson Merrill said. “He’s always unreal.” Merrill had his own unreal moment by getting the hit off Luke Weaver to give the Padres the lead. Except it was met with mostly indifference since most of the fans were watching the Knicks secure the two games to none lead in Boston “I figured the Knicks were doing well,” manager Aaron Boone said Those raves were made after the Yankees eventually won on J.C. Escarra’s game-ending sacrifice fly in the 10th, continuing his rise from rideshare driver to Yankees rookie. “A lot was going through my mind — my heart was pounding through my chest standing there,” Escarra said. “What happened today. It makes it all worth it. I just have to thank and my teammates for trusting me with that.” The game winning RBI occurred after another redemption of sorts in Devin Williams, who is no stranger to struggles early in his Yankee tenure. Williams loaded the bases and then got an electric strikeout with his “Airbender” changeup against Xander Bogaerts to set up the game-ending play. The events of Wednesday occurred some notable happenings the previous two nights. On Tuesday, the return of Michael King to Yankee Stadium was a cool moment for the right-hander, whom the Yankees did not want to include in the package for Juan Soto but ultimately gave into the asking price. By the time King was settled into his post-start activity after six innings, it was a slight afterthought when the Yankees scored 10 times in the seventh. Scoring double-digit runs in an inning or a game is always noteworthy but it’s more notable when it comes against the best bullpen in the game, an example highlighted the fact that even with a rise from 1.68 to 2.34, San Diego still possessed the best relievers ERA in the game. A night earlier in the rain, the Yankees were seemingly cruising to a victory before the Padres scored four times in the eighth off Williams and Luke Weaver. The Padres got their runs after an entertaining ejection of Fernando Tatis Jr. and Shildt. Tatis was asked to leave for arguing the strike zone of plate umpire Adrian Johnson. Shildt raced out to defend his player and continue the discussion, doing so after flicking his pen and lineup card to the side and losing his glasses. “My glasses made it. I did have my head about me to make sure,” he said Monday “I got some — a lot of BPs on my shoulders — not as operable as I’d like but it came into play, and I made sure it stayed in the grass. I didn’t want them scratched. I like these glasses a lot.” Just like Shildt’s glasses, there was a lot to like from watching the Padres and Yankees get together for a series in the first week of May played in similar weather they hope to play in beyond the regular season. Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/larryfleisher/2025/05/08/as-knicks-stun-celtics-in-playoffs-padres-and-yankees-display-three-nights-of-drama/