From the first inning to the time he was lifted after 97 pitches and seven excellent frames, Stroman was on, giving up only one base hit, walking three and punching out five. Blue Jays DH Edwin Encarnacion has 42 home runs and needs one more to establish a career high.3.
Advertisement
“He’s heating up at the right time”, Gibbons said. “Been the guy for a long time”. The three-run home run put the Jays on top finally after a long pitcher’s duel. Sabathia will be going for his eighth career win at Rogers Centre Saturday. Fourteen of those have been for the Jays, putting him second in the club record book behind George Bell (16).
It is baffling to me to see this team fall so far, especially considering how well the played at this time previous year and how well they played for a large majority of the season.
After splitting two apiece with the Angels last week in Anaheim, the Jays headed to the Pacific Northwest for what could barely be called three away games for Canada’s squad. “It seems like he always steps up in those key moments when we need him most”.
By now we’re all familiar with the Yankees big hitters.
The Blue Jays have played sloppy defense and their hitting has been inconsistent for the past few weeks. The Jays went into it with a 3-2 series lead, having split the first two games in Toronto, and then taking two of three in Philadephia (including a wild 15-14 win for the Jays in Game 4). The four-game series will wrap up on Monday when a yet-to-be-named Yankees pitcher squares off against JA Happ.
Tulowitzki has a nine-game hitting streak against NY.
“It’s hard to explain”, Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.
What will be critical in the remaining ten games is whether or not the Jays’ lineup can make adjustments of their own in order to capitalize on more scoring opportunities. Stroman kept us in check. “We’re not out of it, but we’re definitely not in a good position”. The Yankees (79-75) were four games out of the second wild-card spot. Of course, hitting was the one thing they really needed.
“I saw all the Blue Jay fans”. They officially can’t win the American League East – as if that was in doubt. Two of those three teams likely make it, although the Houston Astros or Seattle Mariners could still sneak in. He struck out two, walked three and allowed four hits.
“He’s got good stuff, boy”, manager John Gibbons said before the game.
At Stroman’s urging, Gibbons toyed with the idea of sending him back out for the eighth inning, but he decided not to risk it.
During these three straight shutouts, the Yankees have two extra-base hits.
In the eighth, Ronald Torreyes drove a two-out triple against reliever Jason Grilli, but the right-hander rebounded to strike out pinch-hitter Billy Butler.
Roberto Osuna pitched a scoreless ninth for his 35th save.
One playoff avenue closed for the New York Yankees. He is 0-3 with a 9.24 ERA over his last three home starts and he was knocked around for five runs in four innings at NY opposite Pineda last month. At the start of the 6th inning both teams had combined for a total of just five hits and the Jays had four of them. After Jose Bautista led off with a rocket double down the left-field line, he eventually reached third base with two outs. He has already set career highs this season for RBIs and runs scored. He did acknowledge he was feeling better physically. Friday, Josh Donaldson started sporting LeBron Soldier 10 cleats (for which King James gave him a shout out on Twitter) as well as going with the knee-high socks look.
Stroman and Sabathia matched each other through seven frames, but things started to get interesting in the eighth. In his 30 starts and 6-11 record this year, Pineda holds a 4.89 ERA with a 1.35 WHIP in 165.2 innings.
Advertisement
Toronto has won five of eight after going 3-9 starting September. Tanaka leads the American League with a 3.07 ERA.
