Yankees inch closer to Blue Jays with extra-inning win
The Blue Jays pushed the New York Yankees right to the edge of the abyss Tuesday night but couldn’t push them over.
It was a game played in September but this dramatic bit of business had October written all over it. When the crucial moment arrived, the Yankees had the only answer that mattered.
After a chaotic late-inning exchange sent the game into extra innings, Greg Bird’s three-run home run in the top of the 10th off Mark Lowe sealed the deal for New York, tipping the scales in a 6-4 Yankee victory. The result pulled them 2.5 games behind the American League East leading Blue Jays, right where they were when they came to town two days ago.
The Jays had the winning run 90 feet away in the bottom of the ninth after Dioner Navarro’s dramatic home run tied the game at 3-3 but Andrew Miller struck out Josh Donaldson with the bases loaded.
When you face the Yankees, the comeback trail leads through either Dellin Betances or Miller, or both. It is a road seldom travelled successfully.
The Blue Jays took a ride on that thoroughfare Tuesday night, and came agonizingly close to getting to their destination.
Carlos Beltran’s eight-inning solo home run off reliever Liam Hendriks snapped a 2-2 tie and then Betances and Miller tried to shepherd that lead to the finish line.
The Jays loaded the bases against Betances with two outs in the bottom of the eighth but Edwin Encarnacion struck out to end the threat. The Yankees then put runners at second and third in the top of the ninth against Drew Hutchison, making his first relief appearance.
Ryan Tepera came on to face Jacoby Ellsbury and got a fly ball to right. Chris Young tagged at third and Jose Bautista nailed him at the plate with a perfect throw. Two innings earlier, Bautista gunned down Dustin Ackley at third base with a similar throw.
In the ninth inning, Miller struck out Justin Smoak but Dioner Navarro ambushed him on the very first pitch, launching a wall-scraper to left field for his fifth home run of the season to tie the game at 3-3. The Jays proceeded to load the bases against Miller but he struck out Donaldson to send the game to extra innings.
That’s when Bird came up with his heroics, after Brian McCann singled and Slade Heathcott reached on catcher’s interference.
Luis Severino and Marco Estrada engaged in a serious pitching duel through six innings, each allowing a pair of runs. Severino held the Jays to just three hits, including Kevin Pillar’s 11th homer, while Estrada gave up six hits.
Estrada came into the game having allowed seven home runs by the Yankees in just 25 career innings, including five in his last two starts, but he adroitly avoided the long ball in this one.
Beltran came close, just missing the right field pole with a foul ball in the sixth inning, on his way to a ground ball out. Beltran would rectify that miss later in the game against Hendriks.
A leadoff double by Ellsbury set the tone for the Yankees’ first inning rally. One out later, Alex Rodriguez walked, to put runners at first and second for McCann.
McCann’s single to right scored Ellsbury and sent A-Rod to third base. He scored on Beltran’s sacrifice to deep left to make it 2-0. Bird’s hard-hit ground ball handcuffed Smoak for a double before Estrada struck out Chase Headley with two runners aboard, ending the inning.
Toronto got a run back in the bottom of the third when, with one out, Pillar got all of a Severino fastball and drilled it on a line into the second deck in left for his 11th homer of the season.
The Jays tied the game in the fourth, making Severino pay for a leadoff walk issued to Donaldson. After Bautista’s flyball out to the warning track in right centre, Severino uncorked a costly wild pitch to Encarnacion, allowing Donaldson to move up to second base.
Smoak then ripped an RBI-single into right field, scoring Donaldson. Smoak was out trying to take second when Severino cut the throw off and easily threw out the runner at second.
After his nearly-disastrous first inning, Estrada settled into his usual groove, retiring 17 of the next 19 batters, including 11 in a row at one point. That streak ended with a one-out walk to Ackley in the top of the seventh.
The next man up, DiDi Gregorius, drilled a single into right field and, for the first time in months, Bautista unleashed one of his patented throws. With Ackley bearing down on him, third baseman Donaldson had to leap high to get the throw, then swept his arm down to tag Ackley’s lead spike a split-second before it hit the bag.
Third base umpire Greg Gibson called Ackley safe but the Jays asked for a review and the video evidence showed clearly that the runner was out. The safe call was overturned, some 47,992 unofficial umpires in the building loudly agreed.
Gregorius had gone to second on the throw so, with two outs, Ellsbury was walked intentionally. Lefty Aaron Loup came on to face Brett Gardner and got the ground ball he wanted but it hit Loup on the leg and caromed away from shortstop Ryan Goins, who fielded the ball but had no play. That filled the bases for Rodriguez and Hendriks was was summoned to deal with the No. 4 home run hitter of all time.
A-Rod swung through Hendriks’ first pitch, fouled off the next one and then swung and missed at the third to end the inning.
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