Source: FanGraphs
What started out as a laugher turned into a bit of a nail-biter. The Yankees had a five-run lead at one point on Sunday afternoon, but by the time the 27th out was recorded, the Blue Jays had the tying run on base. Let’s recap the 6-4 win, bullet points style (it’s Sunday, give me a break):
- Three Runs, One Hit: The first inning three-run rally was not an inning the 2013 team could have put together. The Yankees took advantage of Drew Hutchison’s wildness, turning two walks and a hit batsman into three runs with only one base hit. Jacoby Ellsbury drove in Brett Gardner with a ground ball, then Kelly Johnson clubbed a two-run double off the wall. Last year’s offense would have hacked at everything. This team will take the walks.
- All With Two Outs: For the first 5.2 innings of this game, CC Sabathia was excellent. Sure, he allowed the leadoff homer to Melky Cabrera, but he retired 16 of the next 17 batters after that. In the sixth, the Blue Jays pushed across three runs — all with two outs too, yuck — on a bloop single and three ground ball hits. That uglified Sabathia’s line, but I thought his start was very encouraging. He looked like he did from innings three through six against the Astros. That two-out rally was a killer. Brooks Baseball has his pitch breakdown.
- A Homer!: The Yankees finally hit their first home run of the season on Sunday, in their 49th offensive inning. Brett Gardner did the honors, naturally. It looked like some meaningless tack-on runs at the time, but it ended up being a huge homer after Toronto scored those three runs in the sixth.
- Bullpen: For the first time this year, David Robertson made things interesting in the ninth. He put two runners on base (single and a walk) with one out, but otherwise escaped the jam with a pop-up and a fly ball. Shawn Kelley allowed a hit in the eighth and Adam Warren retired all three men he faced in the seventh. He’s looked very good in his two outings.
- Leftovers: Derek Jeter went 2-for-5, moving him ahead of Paul Molitor and into eighth place on the all-time hits list (ninth if you count pre-1900s Cap Anson) … in his 19th plate appearance of the season, Alfonso Soriano blooped a single for his first hit of 2014 … every starter had a hit except for Brian Roberts, who drew a walk … Ichiro Suzuki went 1-for-4 with three strikeouts, only the 18th three-strikeout game of his career … Sabathia threw a first pitch strike to 22 of 25 batters faced, including 20 in a row to close out his day (!).
MLB.com has the box score and video highlights, FanGraphs has some other stats, and ESPN has the updated standings. The Yankees are done with their six-game road trip and will head home for the first time this season. Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, and Jorge Posada will all be involved in the ceremonial first pitch ceremony in the home opener matinee on Monday afternoon.
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