In baseball, it all goes wrong until it goes right. The Yankees came into this series with the Athletics having lost three straight to the Mariners, and for most of night, they seemed to be staring at a four-game losing streak.

And then, in a turn of events so quick if you blinked you may have missed it, they turned despair into delirium.

August 8: Yankees 4, Athletics 3 (box score)

Record: 60-48 (4.5 GA in the AL East)

Before the dramatic events of the game’s conclusion, we were set with a stellar pitching matchup: Roger Clemens, rounding into form over the summer, against a young, wide-eyed Barry Zito, making his fourth career start and his first ever on the road.

The 22-year-old lefty was more than up to the challenge. He breezed through the first six innings of the game on just 77 pitches, and the only run he allowed over that span came on a double play, one that Scott Brosius rapped into in the fourth inning, giving the Yankees a 1-0 lead.

Clemens looked pretty sharp too, keeping the A’s off the board through the first four innings. But things turned upside-down in the fifth. After a one-out walk to Jeremy Giambi, Eric Chavez sent a high fly ball to deep center. Bernie Williams looked like he might have a play on it, but it soared past his glove as he careened into the wall. The ball caromed off a barrier just beyond the wall, however, ricocheting back into play. Though it should’ve been ruled an old-fashioned home run, Chavez instead raced around the bases as the ball rolled harmlessly in center field, scoring an inside-the-park home run and keeping his heart rate up along the way:

Ramon Hernandez followed up with a more straightforward dinger, going back-to-back with a deep fly ball to left that made it 3-1.

The Yankees would chase Zito at last in the seventh, Paul O’Neill leading off and reaching second on an error, and a David Justice single making it 3-2 and forcing the A’s to go to Jim Mecir. The Yankees put two on against Mecir but couldn’t score, and went down 1-2-3 in the eighth as the game went to the ninth with Oakland still leading by one.

The A’s went to their All-Star closer Jason Isringhausen, in the midst of a very fine season. The former Mets phenom saved 25 games to that point with a 3.14 ERA, and as Justice would say after the game, “He throws gas.“

Facing Williams to lead off the bottom of the ninth, Isringhausen went to the gas, challenging Bernie with a first-pitch fastball. Williams did not miss, unleashing a majestic drive to right that sent Yankee Stadium into frenzy on contact:

Williams floated around the bases, and the game was tied. He returned to the dugout, but wouldn’t even have a moment to bask in the glory of his accomplishment.

Isringhausen, facing Justice, reared back and fired once more, again a fastball. And again, the ball went high in the air to right. Justice didn’t miss either, his fly ball clearing the wall in right-center for a walk-off home run.

Two pitches, two fastballs, two swings.

Two home runs, and a shocking win.

Williams hadn’t even finished stowing his helmet before Justice had put the game-winning drive in the air. By the time it landed, the Yankees had won 4-3, snapping a three-game losing skid and starting off this three-game affair with Oakland in style.

As an aside, this classic just barely missed our “Top 25 Best Yankees Regular Season Games of the Past 25 Years” series that we ran a few years ago. So it’s nice to finally be able to talk about it! This is certainly one of the most fondly-remembered games from the dynasty years; Bernie and Justice made that possible.

Read the full 2000 Yankees Diary series here.