Chicago Cubs drop marathon game to New York Yankees, 4-2

A wild pitch by reliever Jose Veras brought home the go-ahead run and the New York Yankees added an insurance run in the top of the thirteenth inning to top the Chicago Cubs by a 4-2 final Wednesday afternoon.

The Yankees trailed for the entire game until the top of the ninth inning when they scored twice. Just moments after being inserted into the game as part of a double-switch, Cubs’ second baseman Darwin Barney – who is known for his defensive prowess – committed a throwing error on what appeared to be the tail end of a 6-4-3 double play, allowing the Yankees to plate two runs, tying the game, 2-2, costing Jeff Samardzija his first win of the season.

Hector Rondon – who took over as the club’s closer earlier this season after Jose Veras struggled and was later injured – was charged with one earned run (two total) in the ninth, and was charged with a blown save.

The Chicago right-hander tossed seven sterling shutout innings, scattering just four hits, walking two and striking out three. He lowered his earned run average to 1.46 on the season – a span of ten starts.

The Cubs opened the scoring in the bottom of the fourth when Mike Olt delivered a sacrifice fly to deep center field, scoring Luis Valbuna with one out in the inning. Chicago added an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh on a safety squeeze bunt by Emilio Bonifacio against Adam Warren, which scored Ryan Kalish from third.

Samardzija’s counterpart, Chase Whitley, who was making just his second start of the season for New York, was solid, allowing just one run in 4 1/3 innings of work. Given he is still working into the mix of the rotation for Yankees’ manager Joe Girardi, he tossed just 71 pitches on the afternoon.

Another bright spot was the work of southpaw Wesley Wright, who turned in another solid relief performance for Ricky Renteria, tossing two scoreless innings. So far this season, he’s allowed just three earned runs in 15 innings of work – good for a 1.50 ERA.

In his final game at Wrigley Field, Yankees’ shortstop Derek Jeter …