Source: FanGraphs
That was a good way to rebound from Thursday’s rough walk-off loss. After being shut down for the first six innings on Friday, the Yankees rallied late to walk away with a 6-3 win over the Blue Jays in the series opener. Let’s recap:
- Five-Run Seventh: The Yankees managed four base-runners against Mark Buehrle in the first six innings, though they started to square him up better in the sixth and that carried over into the seventh. Brian McCann opened the inning with a double to right, then Carlos Beltran walked, then Brett Gardner doubled to almost the exact same spot as McCann. The relay man tried to throw Beltran out at third for whatever reason, and the throw sailed wide and into the stands, allowing the second run to score to make it 2-1 Yankees. Dioner Navarro’s attempted snap throw sailed in left field later in the inning to allow Gardner to score the team’s third run, then Jacoby Ellsbury swatted a two-run homer to make it 5-1. The Yankees have been able to put together some big innings of late. It’s nice to see.
- Cap’d Off: When I looked at the box score, I was surprised to see Chris Capuano allowed eight hits and three runs (two earned) in 6.1 innings. It seemed like he pitched a lot better than that. A Jose Bautista solo homer and some really bad defense led to those runs. (Derek Jeter short-hopped a throw to first and McCann couldn’t handle a short-hop throw from Gardner.) Otherwise Capuano was solid. Not great, not terrible, but good enough to give the Yankees a chance to win, which is what he’s done since joining the team a few weeks ago. Given the news of Masahiro Tanaka’s setback, the club will have to continue to rely on Capuano, and he’s given them no reason to think he won’t be up to the task.
- Late Innings: The Blue Jays answered the five-run inning with two runs of their own in the bottom half of the seventh, thanks mostly to the poor defense. Adam Warren faced Bautista as the tying run and then Edwin Encarnacion as the go-ahead run in that inning, but he escaped with a hit-by-pitch (hey, better than another homer) and a fly out. He got two quick outs in the eighth, Josh Outman came on to allow a single to the lefty hitting Munenori Kawasaki in his Yankees debut, then David Robertson retired all four batters he faced for the four-out save. He is 35-for-38 in save chances now. The seventh and eighth innings are always iffy whenever Dellin Betances isn’t available, but Joe Girardi & Co. got through them successfully on Friday.
- Leftovers: Chase Headley plated an insurance run with a long solo homer in the ninth … Ellsbury and Martin Prado had two hits apiece while Mark Teixeira and Beltran were the only starters without hits. Beltran did draw two walks … the Yankees had six extra-base hits for the first time in 22 games and only the ninth time this season … they scored 6+ runs for the fourth time in the last six games after doing it four times in their previous 25 games … there were two challenges on the same play in the ninth inning. The Jays challenged that Ellsbury had been tagged out at home on a fielder’s choice, and the play was overturned. Joe Girardi then challenged that Navarro was blocking the plate, but it was deemed he was not.
MLB.com has the box score and video highlights, FanGraphs some other stats, and ESPN the updated standings. The Orioles won, so the Yankees remain seven games back in the AL East. Assuming the Tigers hold on to their big lead over the White Sox, the Yankees will remain three games back of the second wildcard spot regardless of the what the Mariners do in the late game. FanGraphs puts their postseason odds at 10.8%. Michael Pineda and Drew Hutchison will square off in the second game of this series on Saturday afternoon.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.