The Yankees scored four runs off of Blue Jays reliever Jason Grilli in the eighth inning, and held on to beat the Jays 7-6 in NY.
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The Yankees answered the call in a big way and it was done by a pitcher in his first Major League Baseball appearance of the season and another who has rediscovered his confidence as a reliever.
The Blue Jays offence was nowhere to be found in New York Wednesday night as the Yankees completed the sweep with a 2-0 victory over their AL East rivals. Brian McCann added to the lead with a single to right field, doubling the lead to 2-0.
His impressive grab was the end to a wild game that the Yankees needed to win in order to keep their playoff hopes alive.
But there’s also that other idea, which also got a nice boost Wednesday. “And it’s been fun”.
There was a thrilling end to the New York Yankees’ win over AL East-leading Toronto.
Be proactive – Use the “Flag as Inappropriate” link at the upper right corner of each comment to let us know of abusive posts. “You’re not going to see any panic from me”. That’s what has made his last three games so startling, as Grilli has blown two leads and allowed six earned runs on three hits and three walks, including two homers.
It was the first time this season the Yankees swept a three-game series.
The Yankees also got a dominating three-inning relief outing from 22-year-old right-hander Luis Severino, who failed miserably as a starter this season but is back to showing his enormous potential now that he’s in the bullpen.
Making an unexpected run at the postseason after trading several veteran stars for prospects this summer, the youth-infused Yankees (73-65) climbed a season-best eight games above.500.
The Yankees had lost in each of their previous seven attempts at a series sweep of at least three games and were 2-9 in those situations this season before wiping out the Blue Jays.
Each night in the 2016 baseball season, we’ll run down the top news, facts and highlights from action around Major League Baseball.
“I’d be lying if I didn’t say we were looking at the standings a little bit”, Mark Teixeira said. The 29-year-old rookie replaced Brad Peacock, who was called up to replace an injured Dallas Keuchel and made his first start since April 14, 2015. “It feels weird to be coming back at this point, but it’s exciting”.
After a thrilling victory in game two of a three-game set, the New York Yankees will go for the sweep Wednesday in the Bronx. “I don’t think you could ask for anything more”.
After Mitchell allowed Devon Travis’ leadoff double in the sixth, Girardi brought on Severino, very bad as a starter this season (0-8 with a 8.58 ERA) but a stud out of the bullpen. Edwin Encarnacion and Melvin Upton got RBI singles on infield hits to pull Toronto within a run. NY won its third in a row and sent the Blue Jays to their fourth loss in five games. If Baltimore wins this game, and Boston and Toronto were to both lose tonight (they play at San Diego and at New York Yankees respectively), then there would be a three-way tie atop the American League’s Eastern Division.
In either case, NY has three clubs they will need to leap-frog to win a postseason berth. Clippard became the AL-high eighth reliever to get a save for the Yankees this year, matching a franchise record.
On a side note for those who missed the game, Russell Martin noticeably struggled with what appears to be a knee injury when hitting on the night.
Tyler Austin’s two-run homer in the seventh off AL ERA leader Aaron Sanchez put the Yankees ahead 3-2.
Said Joe Girardi: “He was outstanding”.
“Believe me, I thought about it”, Girardi said. The big closer threw 40 pitches Tuesday, his third straight day of work.
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More opportunity arrives Thursday night when the last-place Rays arrive for a four-game series. NY was shut out by Baltimore in both of his last two outings.
