​WASHINGTON (AP) — Not since 1910, before Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Reggie Jackson and the era of those legends, had the New York Yankees swept a series quite like this. On Sunday, Ben Rice’s two-run triple in the eighth inning propelled the Yankees to a 5-3 victory over the Washington Nationals. New York had trailed in the ninth on Friday and in the eighth on Saturday and Sunday, yet the team managed to win all three games.
This marks the first time the Yankees have swept a three-plus game series while trailing in the eighth inning or later in each of those games since May 19-21, 1910, according to Sportradar. Back then, it was the New York Highlanders taking three straight from the Cleveland Naps. The last time any team accomplished this feat prior to the Yankees was June 13-15, 2014, when Colorado won three in a row at San Francisco.
“Winning at-bats in different ways in all three games,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said, “a good job by the pitching staff of holding a really good offense enough in check, and giving us a chance to win each game, and the guys just did some really good things late in games.”
On Friday, the Yankees trailed 3-2 when Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a two-run homer in the ninth. Austin Wells added a solo shot, and New York won 5-3. In Washington, the Nationals had led 2-0 before New York’s four-run eighth on Saturday, which featured homers by Ryan McMahon, Trent Grisham and Paul Goldschmidt.
Sunday’s win required no romance with the long ball. Down 3-2, Rice delivered a drive that center fielder Dylan Crews could not reel in near the wall. “I didn’t think I got it quite right, but I saw it kept going,” Rice said. “The wind must have just been helping it enough to make it a tough wall-ball play there.”
After another run in the ninth, the Yankees finished the series by outscoring the Nationals 10-0 in the eighth and ninth innings combined. This resilience in late-inning pressure situations underscored New York’s ability to manufacture offense when it mattered most, even as the Nationals briefly surged ahead in the middle frames.
In the broader context of the season, the Yankees’ back-to-back tows in the late innings showcased a blend of timely hitting and bullpen stability. Boone’s club capitalized on late opportunities, and while the offense didn’t always come from the long ball, it found enough multi-faceted ways to press across runs when it counted. The sweep over Washington, with its historical rarity and the emotional spark it provided, offered a reminder that perseverance in the late innings can still tilt a series in dramatic fashion. For fans, the sequence of come-from-behind victories reinforced the enduring appeal of baseball’s late-game theater and the ongoing pursuit of similar feats in seasons to come.