Hero of heroes Gio Urshela tells how he did it all to carry Yankees into AL Division Series vs. Rays

Unless Aaron Boone turns out to be a second coming of Joe Torre and wins a bunch of World Series managing the Yankees, there’s probably nothing he’ll ever do wearing pinstripes to top Oct. 16, 2003.

That’s the night Boone become a Yankees postseason legend by winning the pennant and keeping the Red Sox’s curse alive for one last year with an 11th-inning, Game 7 ALCS homer at the old Yankee Stadium.

Thursday night/Friday morning at Progressive Field in Cleveland was about as exciting for Boone.

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The Yankees won the longest nine-inning game in baseball history, 10-9, at 1:14 in the morning to sweep the Cleveland Indians in a best-of-three Wild Card Series after rallying from a 4-0 deficit, blowing 6-4 and 8-6 leads and then overcoming a 9-8 deficit in the ninth.

“I’m 47 years old,” Boone said. “I’ve watched a lot of baseball. I’ve watched a lot of my dad’s playoff games. I’ve been in some really big games, and I don’t know how you top that one. Back and forth. The amount of big moments and plays by different guys.”

There were a lot of Yankees heroes on this epic night of playoff baseball that ended with the Yankees earning an American League Division Series date with the Tampa Bay Rays in the San Diego postseason bubble, and one stood above them all.

More than anyone, it was Gio Urshela doing the heavy lifting with his bat, glove, arm and bat again, in that order.

“That was one of the best games I’ve ever played in my life,” Urshela said.

Looked it.

It was Urshela who hit a 432-foot, third-inning grand slam off rookie-sensation reliever James Karinchak that turned a 4-1 Yankees deficit into a 5-4 lead. If Urshela bounces into a double play there, who knows if the Yanks come back and win?

“I tried to remain calm,” Urshela said. “I tried to put the ball in play. Sacrifice fly. Anything in the air. Thank God I got the homer. That was a great moment.”

In the bottom of the eighth, Urshela possibly topped becoming the first Yankees third baseman to hit a postseason grand slam.

Two batters after Cesar Hernandez blooped a single off Yankees reliever Aroldis Chapman to put Cleveland back on top 9-8, Carlos Santana smoked a two-on, one-out grounder to the hole between third and short. It looked like a hit all the way until the Yankees’ human vacuum added to his defensive highlight reel with maybe a new No. 1.

Urshela saved at least one run and maybe more diving to his left to snag the grounder, then he threw a pea to second from the seat of his pants to start the darndest 5-4-3 inning-ending double play that you’ll ever see.

“It was one of the key plays of the game,” Chapman said. “It’s no secret, we all know what Gio is capable of. He’s a great third baseman. I think he saved the game there because if that ball goes by, at least one run comes in. It was an amazing play.”

Amazing and crucial.

“I was trying to save that run,” Urshela said. “That helped the team get energy to keep fighting in the game.”

The next inning, Urshela fed off the energy by helping set up the Yankees’ two-run, game-saving and winning rally.

Giancarlo Stanton worked a leadoff walk, then Urshela golfed a low 0-2 slider from Indians closer Brad Hand into center for a line single. The rally turned into a two-run inning when Gary Sanchez hit a game-tying sacrifice fly and DJ LeMahieu grounded a two-out, tie-breaking single to put the Yanks on top again, this time for good.

“Gio was probably the star of the game amongst the many, many big-time performances,” Boone said.

For Urshela, beating the Indians had extra meaning. They were his first pro organization for a decade, from the time he turned pro as a 17-year-old out of Cartagena, Colombia in July 2008 until he was sold to the Toronto Blue Jays in May 2018.

Urshela actually was the Indians’ starting third baseman in the 2017 playoffs when they lost to the Yankees. While with Cleveland, Urshela also played a fabulous third base during his 148 major league games in 2015 and 2017, but he never hit enough to stay in the big leagues.

Then Urshela didn’t even last three months with the Blue Jays, who sold him to the Yankees on Aug. 4, 2018 while he was playing in a Triple-A doubleheader against the Yanks’ top farm team.

Yankees GM Brian Cashman sold himself short thinking he was just adding organizational depth.

When third baseman Miguel Andujar blew out his shoulder in the first series of the 2019 season, Urshela got a call-up from Triple-A plus opportunities to play. With a new batting approach in his arsenal, he hit for average and power like never before while playing more sensational third base. Then he hit .298 this season to prove there was nothing fluky about his .325 average, 21 homers and 74 RBI last season.

And now, like Boone in 2003, Urshela is a Yankees playoff hero.

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