The Sunday afternoon finale between the Yankees and Blue Jays included more spectacular pitching from a Yankee starter, inadequate hitting from the lineup, and unwanted late drama. Ryan Weathers continued to be nigh-untouchable force, allowing one run over 7.1 innings. The Yankee offense in turn continued to scuffle, grabbing a pair of runs in the first nine innings and forcing David Bednar to complete a five-out save. A crucial error from Ben Rice in the ninth sparked a Toronto rally that brought the tying run home, sending the game to extras.
But miracle of miracles, those slip-ups did not spell doom for the Yankees today. Rice came right back up in the tenth and crushed a go-ahead two run home run to give the Bombers another advantage—which this time they would not relinquish—for a 4-3 extra-innings win on the road which probably gave most onlookers heartburn. I confess, I didn’t think they had it in them to emerge victorious today. I and various other doubters must eat our crow. Let’s dig into how we got there.
Like the first two games of this series, the Yankees scored first, though they again only managed to scratch across a single run. José Caballero essentially had to manufacture the single tally in the third out of whole cloth against Toronto ace Dylan Cease, first working a walk (thanks to two successful challenges of home plate ump Hunter Wendelstedt, who had a rough day), taking second on a weak tapper in front of the plate from surprise leadoff hitter Rice, stealing third, and dashing to the plate on a Luis Garcia Jr. sac fly. The Bombers had to burn two outs from two of their best hitters to do it, but they had a lead.
It took a bit longer than the previous two games for the Blue Jays to equalize, but they ultimately did. Kazuma Okamoto and Daz Cameron thumped back-to-back doubles off Weathers to tie the score in the fifth inning. But Cameron showed why Sunday’s game was his first back in the Majors when he got himself thrown out at third base in an unconventional 5-3-5 double play.
Weathers, entering action with five straight starts allowing either one or zero runs, continued to perform with aplomb. He was perfect the first time through the order before scattering a few hits in a scoreless fourth. He surrendered those doubles and lost the lead, but left it at that to get through five. He allowed another pair of runners aboard in the sixth before inducing a critical twin killing against the slow-footed Alejandro Kirk.
Cease did not have have to lobby his manager too hard to go back out for the seventh inning, but George Lombard Jr. ultimately sent him back to the dugout two batters into the frame. The rookie shortstop gave the Toronto faithful a fright with a booming double to left which barely missed clearing the wall. It wasn’t a homer, but it was the end of Cease’s day.
Lefty Brendon Little entered, and Aaron Boone countered by pinch-hitting Paul Goldschmidt for McMahon. John Schneider countered the counter by intentionally walking Goldy; Jazz Chisholm Jr. pinch-ran for him at first.
An unsuccessful at-bat off the bench from Amed Rosario marked the second out, meaning it was up to Caballero. Miracle of miracles, he got the job done by cracking a base hit to left field to score Lombard and put the Yankees ahead.
Then he hit the deck. And it nearly scored another run.
See, after bringing home that go-ahead run, Caballero got himself caught in a rundown and was compelled to stay in that rundown to allow Jazz to score. With the first baseman McAdoo barreling straight at him, Caballero channeled his inner Keanu Reeves, tumbling to the ground and somersaulting in a desperation attempt to avoid McAdoo’s glove. The umpiring crew ruled that the tag missed him, which meant Jazz’s run scored and the Yankees were up 3-1. Caballero even got to scamper back to first, somehow safe after all that.
Naturally, Schneider immediately challenged, and after a lengthy review the replay cameras revealed that McAdoo’s mitt had grazed an armband Caballero was wearing on his left forearm. By the thinnest of margins, the call was overturned and the score reverted to 2-1. The Yankees would sorely miss not having that extra run in their pockets.
Weathers, energized by the twin killing he got to end the sixth, made quick work of the middle of the Jays’ order in the seventh. With his pitch count in good shape, the lefty came right back out in the eighth to face the bottom third of Toronto’s order for the third time. But a one-out, two-strike single from Andrés Giménez put the tying run aboard and brought Boone to the mound.
Still, what an outstanding performance from Weathers, who has followed a so-so first half by putting on a show for his sixth consecutive turn in the rotation. You’ll have to drag him outta that rotation yourself at this point.
Boone opted to skip the setup men and turn directly to his closer with five outs to go and a Monday off-day soon to come. Bednar took the hill and completed the first part of his task, grabbing the last two outs of the eighth and preserving the lead. Obviously, we knew he would be unable to rely on getting additional cushion from his offense today, so on he went into the ninth a one-run game.
The inning began about as foolishly as you could imagine. Pinch-hitter Josh Smith came on and rolled an easy grounder toward first base that Rice completely flubbed, giving the Jays an undeserved opportunity—and you know what Toronto often does with undeserved opportunities.
Bednar compounded his problems, walking Kirk to put two on with nobody out. After Springer fouled out, the Yankee closer dirted a two-strike offering which eluded Ali Sánchez and allowed both runners to advance. A sac fly from Ernie Clement tied the game and forced the Yankees to start over. Oy vey.
There’s plenty of blame to go around for that blown save, but it was clear that Rice had some atonement to perform. His error, after all, is what started that whole snafu. So he came up in the tenth against Braydon Fisher and took out all his frustration against a 2-0 slider. Miracle of miracles, he barreled it up for a 438-foot go-ahead two-run home run.
Tim Hill entered to pitch the 10th with one down allowed Toronto’s Manfred Man to score on a bleeder from Giménez. To the veteran’s credit, he kept Giménez on first, getting Nathan Lukes to line out to Ramos and Brett Bateman to hit a comebacker, shutting the door on a much-needed 4-3 victory for the Yankees.
Find something relaxing to do Monday night—watching the Yankees will thankfully not be an option. They get a travel day as they head down to Charm City, then on Tuesday night they’ll face their second straight division rivals. The Orioles just swept the Rays so they, like the Jays, are entering a meeting with the Yankees riding on a high (and right in the Wild Card mix in this sad American League). Will Warren gets the ball in the opener; we await word on who the O’s will pitch in that game, which starts at 6:35 PM on YES.