Ceddanne Rafaela stood at the plate in front of New York Yankees reliever Luke Weaver for what felt like hours. The outfielder swung at a strike, then fouled off pitch after pitch with the bases empty with one out in the top of the seventh inning.
Weaver's 11th pitch zipped past Rafaela wide outside the strike zone, and he took his walk to first base — just his 29th of the year. Rafaela's patience paid off soon, as a double from Nick Sogard advanced him to third base. Sogard's double was a rolling grounder into no man's land in the outfield, but he took an extra base as Aaron Judge fielded the ball and attempted a hard throw with his ailing elbow.