With the game tied at three in the eighth inning, Cecil Fielder connected on a leadoff home run to give the Yankees the lead. Mariano Rivera had already come on in the sixth inning, and Joe Torre stuck with him to secure the W. The Yankees defeated the Blue Jays by a score of 4-3.
Jimmy Key started for the Yankees and went six, allowing just one run on six hits. The offense was sparked by Fielder, who hit two solo home runs on the night to give him 35 for the season. Tino Martinez and Joe Girardi each pitched in with an RBI as well.
Since the Yankees need wins, Torre wasn’t messing around with the bullpen tonight. He went straight from Key to Rivera, ensuring that his best reliever was going to leave his mark on the game. Rivera gave up two runs in the seventh which allowed Toronto to tie the game, but that was all he surrendered. He struck out six batters over three innings and earned the win.
The Yankees have now won two in a row, and have pushed their division lead to five games after Baltimore lost to Detroit in 12 innings. David Cone will start against Paul Quantrill tomorrow.
Line score:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Blue Jays 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 3 9 1
Yankees 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 X 4 5 0
