April 8, 2015, Bronx, N.Y.; Yankees 4, Blue Jays 3 — Fans concerned about the [lack of] Yankee offense following Monday’s opening loss didn’t receive a lot of comfort from Wednesday’s victory in the frigid tundra that passed for the Stadium, but they certainly got an ace outing from Michael Pineda. The line read two runs (one earned) on six hits through six, but the hulking righty really only threw one bad pitch all night.
Following a Kevin Pillar swinging bunt base hit to start the third inning, lefty-hitting first baseman Justin Smoak drove a 1-1 fastball high off the right field wall, and the game’s first run followed as Devon Travis snuck an infield single toward short. Pounding 92- and 94-mph heat and a killer slider, Pineda struck out two in the first and the third, and six on the night; he allowed his one walk in the sixth as the mercury dropped, and handling a baseball became the night’s toughest task. And a Brett Gardner stellar play in left got him through that frame. Pineda threw 16 of 25 first-pitch strikes, and got the K’s on 13 swings and misses from Toronto batters.
It looked at the beginning as if knuckleballing Blue Jays righthander R.A. Dickey might be the hurler most challenged by the conditions. He walked Jacoby Ellsbury to start the bottom of the first but when the count went full on Gardner to follow, Dickey saved his inning by first picking Ellsbury off first, then getting Brett swinging. Mark Teixeira, wisely mixing it up against the flutterball by batting righthanded, doubled to left leading off the second, but a flailing Brian McCann popped meekly to center, and Tex died on third. Carlos Beltran would do the same (this one to right) when Dickey walked two in front of him in the third.
But following five innings of offensive futility, Beltran did line out to center to score Ellsbury from third in the sixth, following his single and stolen base, and a fielder’s choice. But by then the Jays had scored a second run after a Stephen Drew throwing error in the fifth. Chris Martin relieved Pineda and threw his second straight dominant frame in the seventh, but Dellin Betances couldn’t grip the rock in the icy eighth. He may have escaped the two walks, but an errant McCann pickoff throw to first resulted in a third Toronto run.
With lefty-hitting Didi Gregorius, Ellsbury, and Gardner scheduled to bat in the home eighth, southpaw Aaron Loup emerged from the Toronto pen, but a pinch-hitting Chris Young lofted a fly to the opposite field and ran his way into a double. Ellsbury reached for the fourth straight time (two walks, two singles — his first 2015 hits) on a single to center, and Loup, having his own issues with the cold, hit Gardner to load the bases.
A decade or so ago, Toronto was having trouble playing the Yankees, and April 8 seemed to be a contributing factor, as illustrated by big losses on this day in both 2001 and 2002. The former, a 16-5 Bombers win, featured Jorge Posada’s first ever grand slam home run. And a year later, Alfonso Soriano had five of the 22 Yankee hits, while Robin Ventura drove in six in a 16-3 drubbing. What followed the Gardner hit by pitch that loaded bases on this 2015 night, however, was nothing like that.
Brett Cecil, a fellow lefthander, relieved Loup, and struck out Beltran, but not before wild pitching for a 3-2 score on his second toss. Switch-hitting Teixeira got an intentional free pass but Cecil, struggling with the wet (yes, it had started raining too) and whipping wind, promptly hit McCann with a pitch to tie the score. He battled Chase Headley to a full count, but the pinstriped third sacker’s sharp comebacker caromed off his glove for an infield single, and a 4-3 Yankee lead. Hard throwing righty Robert Osuna relieved and escaped further trouble, but the damage was done.
It’s too soon to say if Andrew Miller will be this team’s closer, but he was this night. It was natural that Betances got the eighth with Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion hitting. But Andrew set the Jays down in order in the ninth, though we in the crowd got one little scare, as Teixeira turned in a twisting scoop of Drew’s wild throw to retire Jose Reyes and the game.
So is all OK in the Bronx following Monday’s depressing flop, and a spirited — if fortunate — comeback? It is too soon to say. We’ll see how CC Sabathia throws Thursday, but tonight’s late rally notwithstanding, it is clear that this group’s offense has yet to show up. They lost one to Toronto, then survived one, as the weather and the date beat the Jays as much as the Yanks did this time.
BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!