CINCINNATI — When Kyle Hendricks swung through Chasen Shreve’s split-finger fastball in the dirt at 1:13 a.m. Central on Monday, the Yankees were relieved to have survived the 18 innings and 6 hours 5 minutes that were required for a 5-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs.

But for Ben Tuliebitz, the action was just beginning.

Tuliebitz, the Yankees’ traveling secretary, knew what virtually nobody else with the team did: If the Yankees’ charter flight waiting at O’Hare International Airport was not loaded with 60 players, coaches, staff and broadcasting crew — along with a truckload of equipment — and in the air in 2 hours 9 minutes, he had no idea how they would get to Cincinnati for Monday’s game.

“There was no Plan B,” Tuliebitz said.

Because of Federal Aviation Administration restrictions on pilot hours, if the Yankees’ charter flight was not airborne by 3:22 a.m. Central, they would need to find a new crew to pilot the plane. Oh, and the flight coordinator with Delta, which runs the Yankees’ charter flights, told Tuliebitz that no other pilots were in Chicago to fly it.

So while the players and coaches showered and ate, and the equipment manager Rob Cucuzza and the visiting clubhouse attendants hustled to get the equipment loaded onto a truck, Tuliebitz made sure the team’s two bus drivers knew that they had to make the trip to O’Hare — a 13 ½-mile trip that can be nightmarish in rush hour — in less than 30 minutes.