“We have to pitch better and keep them in the ballpark if we want to win”, Girardi said.
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With only 2.5 games separating the Blue Jays and Yankees heading into Saturday, it’ll be hard for them to be competitive without Tulowitzki’s hitting prowess at the plate and Gold Glove in the field.
Factor in that the Yankees don’t have an off-day until Thursday – they head out to Tampa Bay for three games right after this series – and strong outings from Michael Pineda and Ivan Nova are nearly a must Saturday. J.T. Realmuto led off the bottom of the seventh with a double off Casey Janssen (1-5) and later scored the tie-breaking run on a sacrifice fly by Miguel Rojas. Tulowitzki and second baseman Ryan Goins converged while Pillar raced in from centre field. Headley singled to center, Beltran to second.
At Great American Ball Park, Camden Yards and every stadium where a big league game is played, there will be tributes to mark the anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
Donaldson made it 2-0 when he drove a full count fastball over the left-field fence and into the bleachers for his 38th home run.
Brian McCann singled and Alex Rodriguez followed that up with an opposite field home run of his own, making it 4-1 Yankees.
Pillar appeared to inadvertently elbow Tulowitzki in the back as the two collided.
Encarnacion, who has reached base safely in a club-record 40 consecutive games, took a long look at his two-run clout in the fourth off Chris Martin that landed in the rarely reached second deck in left.
So it stayed until the eighth. Offensively, they average 5.5 runs per game, which is tops in the AL.
Against Blue Jays’ trade acquisition David Price, the Yankees scratched out two runs on six hits through the first five innings. Each of the first four Yankees pitchers gave up at least one homer.
After Roberto Osuna and Andrew Miller proved nigh unhittable, it became a battle of bullpens…a battle the Yankees sadly lost.
The Yankees’ city rivals the Mets have been enjoying better fortunes of late and they extended their winning sequence to five matches with Yoenis Cespedes fuelling a 5-1 triumph over the Atlanta Braves.
Peavy (6-6) did not walk a batter and struck out two. Russell Martin lined a single through the middle to chase Severino. It felt like so many more.
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Blue Jays (4): “The red-hot Blue Jays continue to steamroll through the majors, and with the impending return of Marcus Stroman this coming weekend, that optimism isn’t going away north of the border”. The Yankees played well until the 11, when the lesser arms in their bullpen really let them down. Ever since his massive breakout in 2010 – when he smashed 54 homers and finished fourth in the MVP voting – the Dominican native has been an All-Star every year, finished in the top six in the MVP voting three times and won three Silver Slugger awards. The right-hander will make his 100th career start.
