They dropped Toronto percentage points out of first place in the AL East and, after many thought they were fading from contention, pulled within 5 1/2 games of new division leader Baltimore. “These guys I’ve played with for two years now in spring training, a couple guys like Gary and Chad Green that I played in Triple-A with, they’re helping me relax a little bit”. His double off Toronto starter and loser R.A. Dickey scored Brian McCann from second base in the fourth inning. But a cataclysmic unraveling by the NY relievers overshadowed Sanchez’s standout performance.
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Estrada allowed four runs and five hits in four innings. The last of which came in the form of a three run shot off the bat of Gary Sanchez giving NY a 5-0 lead as rain and lightning began to fill the western sky. And former Met Cy Young Award victor R.A. Dickey was almost as good, allowing only 1 run in 5 innings. I’ll take that line against a pitcher of his ability any day of the week.
MARLINS 6, REDS 3: Chris Johnson drove in two runs with a home run and a double, former reliever David Phelps pitched into the sixth inning in his third start of the season as Miami opened a four-game series at Cincinnati with a win.
The 6-2, 205-pound infielder/outfielder has played 10 games in three different stints with Toronto this season. Glaring from that record is a high rate of strikeouts – a little more than 10 per game. Hours after the rains cleared, Toronto’s thunder didn’t stop. That wasn’t good for an offence that had gone 14 straight innings without a run in the Bronx. With a second straight disappointing loss staring them right in the face, they came together as an offensive unit and produced one of the most satisfying victories of the year.
It all started in the sixth inning with a double off the bat of Devon Travis. He quickly came around to score on a Josh Donaldson infield single that coupled with a Chase Headley error on a wild throw to first. Adam Warren, who may just have gotten himself straightened out, pitched a flawless 8th.
The red-hot Gregorius added another Yankee run with an RBI single up the middle to put NY up 6-0 heading into the sixth. With two out in the second inning, Sanchez worked the count full then exploded all over an Estrada changeup for his third homer of the season and first of two on the night. It lasted 36 minutes (almost as long as the rain delay), and left the Yankees totally shell-shocked. Pineda held the Jays to four hits and no walks while whiffing two over five frames, but Yankees manager Joe Girardi elected not to stick with the righty after a 44-minute rain delay. It was 8-6 Toronto and the Yankees had officially coughed up what looked like a sure win.
It marked the first time in the AL and fourth in major-league history the feat has been accomplished, according to the Yankees’ public relations department. Edwin Encarnacion, the next batter, hit his 34th home run of the season while driving in his 100th RBI of the season-already! That’s one heck of a comeback when you consider it stood at.569 back on May 9.
It was the second time in three days that Tulowitzki and Martin went back-to-back.
Over his four innings, Estrada allowed five hits, three of them home runs.
With four runs in the top of the sixth, the Jays cut the early lead to 6-4, then erupted for eight runs in the eighth, sending 13 men to the plate in the process. He made a two-game return to the C’s last season, and he’s split this year between the advanced single-A Dunedin Blue Jays and the single-A Lansing Lugnuts.
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Brett Gardner sat again Tuesday after undergoing an MRI exam on Monday on the right ankle that has sidelined him since Saturday. J.A. Happ gets the start against CC Sabathia. Toronto reached double digit runs for the 12th time this season when Donaldson drew a bases-loaded walk off Chasen Shreve and scored its final runs on Michael Saunders’ two-run double.Before Toronto stormed back much to the delight of its many fans in the crowd, rookie Gary Sanchez homered twice and Didi Gregorius homered and had an RBI single for the Yankees.Those home runs came off Marco Estrada, who allowed five runs and five hits in four innings. The deciding blow was a no-doubt, two-run, go-ahead home run from Russell Martin in the top of the eighth.
