CLEVELAND _ One of the few Yankees who have been hitting of late came up with the biggest swing of the game Saturday night.
Chase Headley hit a tiebreaking solo homer in the eighth inning as the Yankees earned a much-needed 2-1 victory over the Indians and ended their losing streak at four games in front of a sellout crowd of 34,651 at Progressive Field.
It came with plenty of drama, much of it in the bottom of the ninth.
Aroldis Chapman, who had a memorable outing the last time he pitched in this ballpark _ he blew the save but earned the win in Game 7 of the 2016 World Series for the Cubs _ had another exciting outing Saturday night.
Michael Brantley hit a leadoff single and Jose Ramirez followed by launching one toward the 19-foot wall in left-center, where Brett Gardner robbed him of an extra-base hit with a leaping catch. Edwin Encarnacion then sent a flare to right field, and second baseman Ronald Torreyes dived to grab it for the second out.
Chapman then struck out Carlos Santana, who homered earlier in the game and nearly hit a full-count pitch over the right-field fence in the ninth but saw it go foul. He caught Santana looking at a slider for his 14th save.
Headley's sixth homer, on a hanging 0-and-1 curveball from Zach McAllister, gave the Yankees (58-51) a 2-1 lead. He entered the game with a .329/.407/.455 slash line in his previous 44 games and had 11 hits in his previous 31 at-bats.
A bullpen that Yankees manager Joe Girardi called on in the sixth inning _ even after starter Jordan Montgomery struck out seven in five dominant innings and retired the last nine he faced _ got the job done.
David Robertson pitched two scoreless innings and, after Headley's homer, Dellin Betances struck out two in a perfect eighth.
A Yankees offense that came in having scored three runs and struck out 31 times in its previous three games hardly erupted. The Yankees managed five hits, including two doubles by the red-hot Didi Gregorius. Gardner went 1 for 2 with two walks and a run.
Montgomery, a 24-year-old rookie likely to lose his rotation spot when the Yankees go back to a five-man rotation the next time through, was terrific. The left-hander allowed one run and three hits and did not walk a batter.
The Yankees took a quick lead against Danny Salazar, who allowed one run and struck out a career-high 12 in seven innings.
Gardner worked a leadoff walk, Aaron Judge lined a one-out single to left and Gregorius sent a 2-and-0 fastball off the top of the center-field wall for an RBI double and a 1-0 lead. Salazar shut it down there, striking out Gary Sanchez looking and getting Jacoby Ellsbury to line to center to strand runners at second and third.
In the bottom of the second, Montgomery hung a 3-and-1 curveball to Santana, whose 16th home run tied it at 1-1.
Gardner led off the third with a walk but was stranded as Headley, Judge and Gregorius struck out. It was the 23rd straight game in which Judge struck out, the longest such streak in the majors this season.
