On August 11, 2013, Gardner hit his first career walk-off home run with two outs in the bottom of the 9th inning off of Detroit Tigers reliever José Veras. The home run sealed a 5–4 victory for the Yankees, and helped give support to a struggling Mariano Rivera, who blew three consecutive save opportunities for the only time in his career. In the same series against Detroit two days earlier, Gardner made his first bailout of Rivera's pitching mishap by hitting a walk-off single past a diving Miguel Cabrera to give the Yankees a 4–3 win. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Gardner became the first Yankee since Claudell Washington in 1988 to have two walk-off hits in a span of three or fewer games. In 2013, Gardner played 145 games batting .273 with 8 home runs, 33 doubles, an American League leading 10 triples, 52 RBI, and 24 stolen bases.