Source: FanGraphs
The chances of an AL East title keep getting smaller and smaller. The Yankees dropped their most important game of the season (to date!) on Saturday afternoon, losing 9-5 to the Blue Jays in eleven innings. Toronto is now 7-1 at Yankee Stadium this year. Gross. Let’s recap with bullet points, because there’s no way I’m writing two full recaps on a Saturday:
- Small Mike: The Yankees gave Michael Pineda a two-run lead and a three-run lead, but it wasn’t enough. Three home runs did him in — Jose Bautista and Ben Revere hit solo shots, then Edwin Encarnacion hit a game-tying two-run shot in the fifth. All three landed in the first or second row, but they all count the same. Four runs on six hits and two walks in 5.1 innings for Pineda. The Yankees are now 19th in rotation ERA (4.31) and 23rd in innings (805.1). Amazing they are where they are with this starting staff.
- Early Lead: The ball was flying in the Bronx and the Yankees built their early lead with the long ball. Brett Gardner hit a solo homer in the first, Chase Headley hit a solo homer in the second, then Alex Rodriguez lifted a two-run shot in the fourth. Gardner’s was a bomb into the second deck while Headley and A-Rod took advantage of the short porch. They had a 2-0 lead after two and a 4-1 lead after four. The Blue Jays had them right where they wanted.
- Blown Chance: Dellin Betances served up a go-ahead solo homer to Bautista in the eighth inning, but the Yankees did battle back. Jacoby Ellsbury and Gardner starting the eighth with walks, then Ellsbury moved up on a wild pitch. Gardner did not and that’s probably a good thing — if he moves up, Brian McCann probably gets nothing to hit. Instead, McCann singled to tie the game. A-Rod loaded the bases with a walk and the Yankees were in business. But then Headley popped up to second and Greg Bird was robbed of a single by Cliff Pennington’s great sliding stop. Really great play. Bases loaded, one out, bottom of the eighth … no runs. Rough.
- Given Away: The Yankees lost this game more than the Blue Jays won it. After Andrew Miller retired all six men he faced, Joe Girardi turned to Bryan Mitchell to start the 11th. He’s been really shaky since getting hit in the face, and, sure enough, his inning went walk, hit batsman, walk, strikeout. In came Chasen Shreve, who walked pinch-hitter Russell Martin on four pitches to force in the winning run. Revere then singled in an insurance run. Then Shreve walked Josh Donaldson and Bautista to force in two more runs. Four runs in an inning in which the Blue Jays had one hit. Yankees relievers walked five (!) and hit one batter. Excruciating.
- Leftovers: A-Rod was lifted for a pinch-runner following his walk in the eighth, which was weird. The most important run was at third and they lost Alex’s bat in a close game. It burned them when Dustin Ackley grounded out with a runner at second to end the tenth in A-Rod’s spot. This game will not go down as Girardi’s managerial Mona Lisa … Gardner and McCann went 5-for-9 (.555). The rest of the lineup went 5-for-33 (.152) … there have been 13 homers in this series so far, and apparently the new Stadium record is 20 for a single series … how about that FOX broadcast? Think John Smoltz still hates the Yankees and Yankee Stadium or nah?
Here are the box score, video highlights, updated standings, and postseason odds. The magic number to clinch a postseason spot remains 19. Here are our Bullpen Workload and Announcer Standings pages as well. The Yankees and Blue Jays will begin game two of their doubleheader in just a few minutes. Ivan Nova and Marcos Stroman will be on the mound.
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