Toronto Blue Jays 4 — New York Yankees 6
Bullpen made the game close but the sweep would be complete.
After a scoreless first inning by David Phelps, the Yankees got to Blue Jays starter Drew Hutchison. Early on in the game, productive outs was the name of the game. Brett Gardner just missed a home run to right field as the Yankees left fielder bounced it off the wall. Derek Jeter would hit an infield single that third baseman Juan Francisco could not make a play on to put runners on the corners with no outs. Jacoby Ellsbury would productively fly out to left field, deep enough to score Gardner and the Yankees were ahead by one.
A pair of walks and a single in the second gave the Yankees another opportunity to score with one out. Like Ellsbury, Kelly Johnson would fly out deep enough to score another run. The Blue Jays would respond to the early two-run lead with two runs of their own. A one-out single by Jose Reyes gave Melky Cabrera the runner needed for his 11th home run of the season. The two-run home run tied the game.
For the third consecutive inning, the Yankees led off with a baserunner with Jacoby Ellsbury hitting a single to center field. He would steal second and a single to right field would put runners on the corners with no outs. After a McCann strikeout, Carlos Beltran would fly out to left field and the Yankees scored their first three runs on three sacrifice flies.
In the fifth inning, things were going David Phelps’ way. After a led off double and a sacrifice put the baserunner on third, Phelps would get two ground outs and stranded the runner at third. With one out in the bottom half of the inning, Jacoby Ellsbury would get on with a single and proceeded to steal his 20th base of the season. Mark Teixeira would walk and that would be the end for Hutchison. Lefty Aaron Loup would get McCann out but Carlos Beltran would hit a ground-rule double into left center field to give the Yankees a 4-2 lead and their first run actually batted in.
The Yankees would get four stolen bases on the night when Brian Roberts hit a single and stole two bases. Derek Jeter would ground out for the fourth productive out by the Yankees as the fifth run scored. In this inning, Kelly Johnson would exit the game with bruised fingers and Yangervis Solarte took over. A single and a pair of walks around two outs would load the bases for Solarte in the seventh inning. The struggling rookie would walk on four straight pitches and the Yankees scored the sixth run.
Over seven innings, David Phelps struck out seven while allowing two runs on six hits and walking two. He threw a career-high 115 pitches and his only bad inning was the second inning and the two-run home run he allowed.
The tack-on runs by Jeter and Solarte would prove to be the difference after Shawn Kelley got the call in the eighth inning. After getting a pop out of Melky Cabrera, Jose Bautista would get a full count walk. Walks in the heart of the Blue Jays order can often hurt and Kelley found out the hard way. Edwin Encarnacion would hit a monster two-run home run to bring the Jays within two. Kelley and Thornton would get the rest of the inning.
Matt Thornton would come on for the ninth inning and got the first out before a single was the end of his night. For the two-out save, Adam Warren got the call and got a fly out and a ground out to complete the sweep. There were a few more relievers used than anticipated but the win is a win and what a big win it is. The Yankees took three games against the first place Blue Jays.
Win – David Phelps (3-4)
Loss – Drew Hutchison (5-5)
Save – Adam Warren (2)
Notables
Blue Jays
*Edwin Encarnacion – 2 for 4, R, 2-Run Home Run (21) in the 8th, 2 RBI (56)
*Melky Cabrera – 2 for 4, R, 2-Run Home Run (11) in the 3rd, 2 RBI (37)
Yankees
*Jacoby Ellsbury – 2 for 4, 2 R, RBI (31)
*Carlos Beltran – 1 for 3, R, 2B, 2 RBI (20)
Current Yankees Record: 38-33
