OJTB: Yankees Sweep Up The Blue Jays

A recap of Thursday’s series finale is followed by notes highlighting the set’s first two games.

David Phelps

Newton’s First Law of Motion tells us that an object in motion will not stop unless it is met by an unbalanced outside force. In recent meetings between the two clubs in the Bronx, the Yankees have been moving, and the Toronto Blue Jays cannot stop them.

Behind solid pitching and effective situational hitting, New York (38-33) defeated the Blue Jays (41-33) for the 16th consecutive time at Yankee Stadium on Thursday night, this time by 6-4. The Bombers now sit only 1.5 games behind first-place Toronto.

RHP David Phelps, who fired 6.2 scoreless frames in the Yankees’ 7-0 win at Oakland last Friday, enjoyed his second consecutive quality outing. Phelps (3-4; 4.13 ERA) surrendered only two runs on six hits and two walks while striking out seven over seven innings.

Phelps escaped two major jams. With runners at first and second and one out in the first inning, Phelps picked LF Melky Cabrera off second base; Cabrera was initially ruled safe, but the call was changed after Manager Joe Girardi challenged the play. Then, with a runner at third base and New York clinging to a 3-2 lead in the fifth, Phelps induced consecutive groundball outs from SS Jose Reyes and Cabrera, respectively, to escape trouble unscathed.

Blue Jays’ RHP Drew Hutchison labored through 4.1 innings. He surrendered four runs on six hits and four walks while striking out three. Hutchinson (5-5; 3.86 ERA) was able to mitigate the damage, however, by limiting the Yankees to only sacrifice flies in each of the first three frames.

The Yankees jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. LF Brett Gardner laced a double off the top of the right field wall, SS Derek Jeter reached on an infield single to third base, and CF Jacoby Ellsbury lined a sacrifice fly to left field to score Gardner.

New York doubled its edge to 2-0 in the second inning, when a sacrifice fly by 1B Kelly Johnson brought home DH Carlos Beltran. Hutchinson fanned Jeter, however, with the bases loaded to limit the damage.

The Blue Jays tied the game, 2-2, in the top of the third inning. Reyes flared a two-out single to right field, and Cabrera, who previously extended his hitting streak against his former team to 19 games with a first-inning single, launched a two-run dinger to right.

Beltran hit New York’s third sacrifice fly for a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the third frame, and he extended the edge to 4-2 with a two-out ground rule double in the fifth inning.

The Bombers tacked on a fifth run in the sixth inning. 2B Brian Roberts led off with a single, moved to second on a botched pickoff play, and stole third. Then, after Gardner walked, Roberts scored on a ground ball to short by Jeter. Gardner was running on Jeter’s grounder, thus eliminating a probable inning-ending double play.

New York took a four-run, 6-2, lead in the bottom of the seventh inning on a bases-loaded walk by 3B Yangervis Solarte.

1B Edwin Encarnacion brought the visitors to within 6-4 with a long two-run homerun to left field against RHP Shawn Kelley in the top of the eighth inning, but LHP Matt Thornton and RHP Adam Warren successfully combined to record the final four outs. Warren earned his second save of the season.

Notes:

1) With Encarnacion at first base and nobody out in the fourth inning, DH Dioner Navarro hit what appeared to be a routine popup to first base. However, the umpires deemed that Encarnacion had interfered with 1B Mark Teixeira, so the play was ruled a 3-4 force, and Navarro took Encarnacion’s place at first base. This situation resulted in a four-minute delay as both managers discussed the ruling with the umpires.

2) Solarte replaced Johnson with a 3-2 count in the sixth inning after Johnson injured his hand on a bunt attempt. The at bat culminated in a strikeout, which, by rule, was charged to Johnson. X-rays on Johnson’s hand were negative.

3) The Yankees’ 16-game home winning streak over Toronto represents their longest such surge against a single opponent since they won 19 straight contests against the Cleveland Indians between June 10, 1960 and April 21, 1962.

Tuesday: Yankees 3 Blue Jays 1

1) The Yankees reactivated C Francisco Cervelli from the 60-day disabled list prior to the game. Cervelli hadn’t played since April 13 because of a hamstring strain.

To make room on the roster for Cervelli, C John Ryan Murphy was optioned to AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Murphy mainly impressed in his first significant major league stint, batting .286 (18-63) over 24 games, but Cervelli is out of minor league options. New York cannot demote Cervelli without the risk of losing him to another team.

2) The Yankees extended their record home winning streak against Toronto to 14 games. This surge dates back to Sept. 19, 2012.

Previously, the Blue Jays lost nine straight games over four series at the old Yankee Stadium between June 21, 1979 and Sept. 17, 1980. New York then enjoyed an eight-game home win streak over Toronto from June 23, 1995 to June 4, 1996.

3) Reyes began the game with a line drive homerun against RHP Masahiro Tanaka. The dinger marked Reyes’ second-career leadoff homerun in the Bronx. He also accomplished the feat for the Mets against RHP Phil Hughes in an eventual 5-3 Yankees’ triumph on June 19, 2010. The aforementioned game was somewhat noteworthy because Hughes and Mets’ RHP Dillon Gee were each seeking 10-1 starts to their seasons.

4) Tanaka (11-1; 1.99 ERA) rebounded from Reyes’ dinger to earn his 11th win in 12 decisions this season. He is the first Yankee pitcher to accomplish this feat since RHP Roger Clemens won 20 of his first 21 decisions en route to a 20-3 finish in 2001.

Tanaka surrendered just the one run on five hits, two walks, and a hit batter while striking out 10 over six innings.

5) New York took the lead for good against RHP Marcus Stroman in the bottom of the third inning. After Johnson laced a one-out double, Gardner lined a bullet two-run homerun off the foul screen in right field. Teixeira then extended the Yankees’ lead to 3-1 with a RBI single against LHP Aaron Loup in the fifth inning.

6) Gardner, who homered in Sunday’s loss at Oakland, hit dingers in consecutive games for only the second time in his career. He previously did so in wins against Toronto on July 3-4, 2010.

7) The Yankees’ bullpen was effective. RHP Dellin Betances struck out three over two perfect frames, and RHP David Robertson worked around a two-out triple in the top of the ninth inning to earn his 17th save in 19 chances this season. Robertson labored, though, throwing 26 pitches.

Wednesday: Yankees 7 Blue Jays 3

1) C Brian McCann enjoyed an outstanding night, driving in five runs. McCann’s two-run homerun off LHP Mark Buehrle in the fourth inning afforded the Yankees a 3-2 lead, and his three-run triple in the seventh inning upped New York’s edge to 7-2. The five RBI marked a season-high for McCann, who previously contributed three RBI on four separate occasions, most recently in the Yankees’ 4-2 win at Kansas City on June 6.

2) Gardner also had a great night at the plate. He collected four hits in five at bats and scored runs in the first and seventh innings. RF Alfonso Soriano drove Gardner home with a two-out RBI single in the first inning; PH Ichiro Suzuki scored him with a bases-loaded walk in the seventh frame.

3) RHP Chase Whitley labored through five innings but managed to allow only two runs on five hits, a walk, and a hit batter. Whitley (3-0; 2.56 ERA) surrendered consecutive RBI singles to Navarro and CF Colby Rasmus, respectively, with two outs in the fourth inning.

4) New York’s bullpen was effective again. With the Yankees clinging to a 3-2 lead, Warren struck out three over two perfect innings. Then, after RHP Jose Ramirez surrendered consecutive doubles to begin the eighth inning, Betances struck out a pair of batters to hold the Yankees’ lead at 7-3. Robertson pitched a perfect ninth inning in a non-save situation to preserve the win.

5) Solarte went hitless with a walk in three at bats, extending his slump to 0-22. His average is down to .270.

6) Buehrle (10-4; 2.32 ERA) lost for the 11th time in 12 career decisions against the Yankees over 17 starts.

The Yankees will now host the Baltimore Orioles (37-34) for a three-game series. Orioles’ RHP Ubaldo Jimenez (2-8; 4.86 ERA) is scheduled to oppose RHP Hiroki Kuroda (4-5; 4.32 ERA) in Friday’s opener.