Yankees Use Successful ABS Challenge in Wild Ninth-Inning Rally to Snap Losing Streak

A crucial challenge from Ryan McMahon led to a Yankees walk off a few pitches later.

The Yankees secured a walk-off win on Monday against the Angels. | John Jones-Imagn Images

The Yankees were staring down the barrel of their sixth consecutive defeat entering the ninth inning of Monday’s game against the Angels trailing 10–8. But, rather improbably, they were able to rally in the bottom of the ninth in order to stun the Halos 11–10.

The walk-off run came courtesy of a wild pitch on a full count, thanks to a clutch challenge call from Ryan MacMahon which overturned the strike call during the game’s final at-bat.

In a 1–1 count against Jordan Romano, McMahon tapped his helmet after home plate umpire Ryan Additon called a strike on a fastball below the knees. The ABS system overturned the call, making the count 2–1. McMahon managed to work the count full from there, and after fouling off three in a row, he drew a walk on a slider that got away from Logan O’Hoppe which enabled Jose Caballero to score the game-winning run from third base.

The Yankees win on a walk-off wild pitch! pic.twitter.com/tmbtM2C47m

— MLB (@MLB) April 14, 2026

The walk-off wild pitch was part of a three-run comeback for New York, spearheaded by Trent Grisham’s game-tying two-run home run earlier in the inning.

MORE: Eight Early Effects of ABS On MLB

It was an important win for the Yankees, who are now on level pegging with the Orioles atop the AL East. New York hadn’t won a game since April 7 and limped into the series against the Angels on the heels of a humbling sweep at the hands of the Rays. The Yankees, who hadn’t scored more than four runs in any of their last five games, put as many runs on the board Monday night as they did in their entire series against Tampa.

The Yankees have been rather inconsistent with their use of the newly-implemented ABS challenge system. Some hitters, such as Ben Rice, have struggled to get comfortable with using it. But McMahon, knowing the situation and confident he’d be correct, took a necessary risk by signaling for a challenge in the bottom of the ninth inning on Monday, and it proved to be the right decision.

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