Andy Pettitte has been a stopper all year for the Yankees, evidenced by his sparkling record following a loss. However, he couldn’t hold down the Blue Jays tonight, as the Yankees have now lost two straight games and the series to Toronto.
Pettitte went seven and gave up four runs – all off the bat of Ed Sprague – and suffered his eighth loss of the season to go with his 20 victories. The New York offense was stifled by Erik Hanson, who surrendered just two runs over 6.2 innings. Paul Spoljaric, Tim Crabtree and Mike Timlin closed out the game for Toronto by tossing 2.1 innings of hitless ball.
Sprague connected on a solo shot in the second and then a three-run homer in the third, putting the Blue Jays on top 4-0. The Yankees broke through for two runs in the seventh on an RBI groundout by Mike Aldrete and a Hanson wild pitch that scored Derek Jeter from third base. With two outs, the Yankees loaded the bases, but Cecil Fielder lined out to deep centerfield ending the threat and any chance of a Yankees comeback.
New York’s division lead is now down to just three games following Baltimore’s 6-2 win over Detroit. The Yankees will hit the road to visit those 51-93 Tigers tomorrow for a three-game set. Dwight Gooden starts against Todd Van Poppel.
Box score and current stats
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Blue Jays 0 1 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 4 6 0
Yankees 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 9 0
Batting AB R H RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG
Raines LF 5 0 3 0 0 0 .285 .366 .401
Boggs 3B 3 0 0 0 0 0 .310 .384 .388
Hayes PH-3B 1 0 1 0 0 0 .251 .301 .375
ONeill RF 3 0 0 0 1 3 .300 .408 .471
Fielder DH 4 0 0 0 0 0 .254 .353 .485
Martinez 1B 2 0 1 0 2 1 .299 .369 .485
Williams CF 4 1 2 0 0 1 .296 .377 .507
Jeter SS 4 1 2 0 0 0 .309 .369 .415
Leyritz C 3 0 0 0 1 1 .264 .354 .388
Sojo 2B 2 0 0 0 0 0 .210 .242 .263
Aldrete PH 1 0 0 1 0 0 .227 .317 .455
Fox 2B 0 0 0 0 0 0 .186 .269 .246
Strawberry PH 1 0 0 0 0 1 .260 .359 .497
2B:Jeter (22) RBI:Aldrete (17)
Pitching IP H R ER BB SO ERA
Pettitte L (20-8) 7 6 4 4 2 6 4.25
Nelson 2 0 0 0 0 2 4.57
