TORONTO — The word "bunt" is a contentious one in Toronto Blue Jays land. Some fans love bunts more than certain family members, crying for the at-times offensively challenged Blue Jays to manufacture more runs. Others deride its very concept, arguing that this team, which on Sunday batted six 20-homer hitters in a row, should be just fine hitting balls over the fence instead of leaving them right in front of the plate.
It's a debate for another day. All that can be said right now—as the Blue Jays splash each other with water on the field and a frazzled sports writer punches his keyboard frantically up above—is that a delicately placed Ezequiel Carrera bunt in the bottom of the ninth inning helped the Blue Jays win a game Sunday. And isn't that something.
It began after Roberto Osuna did what he rarely does and blew a save, allowing the Yankees to take a one-run lead with a two-spot in the top of the ninth inning. Melvin Upton Jr., led off the bottom half with a walk, before moving to third on a well-struck Kevin Pillar single. Upton charged home with the tying run on that Carrera bunt, which was so badly misplayed by Yankees reliever Tyler Clippard that Carrera ended up at second, and Pillar at third.
The Yankees then walked Josh Donaldson to load the bases, which was the sensible thing to do. But Edwin Encarnacion laced a first-pitch splitter on the ground to the right side, easily bringing in Pillar with the winning run. It ended up at a 4-3 Blue Jays victory, the club's third in as many days over the slumping Yankees, and a virtual death knell for New York's post-season chances. All of this off a very good bunt at the end of a very tense pitcher's duel. What a world.
Yankees starter Michael Pineda kept the Blue Jays off-balance for most of his outing, striking out six over his first three innings. His lone mistake came in the fourth when he threw a 2-1 fastball middle-in to Jose Bautista, which is seldom a mistake a pitcher can get away with against a hitter who lives on heaters in that location. And thus, Bautista barrelled it 398-feet into the left field seats for a 1-0 lead.
Meanwhile, Blue Jays starter Marco Estrada was efficient and effective, leaning on his reliably deceptive changeup and continuing a recent run of brilliant Blue Jays starting pitching. The club has gone 10 games in a row with its starter allowing two earned runs or fewer.
Estrada fell victim to the strange providence of baseball in the second inning, when Mark Teixeira broke his bat on an 86-mph cutter and still managed to bend the ball down the right field line for a double. Similarly hit balls have produced a batting average of exactly .000 this season.
Estrada then walked Brian McCann and watched a Chase Headley flare that came off his bat at only 69-mph fall into no-man's land in shallow left field to load the bases with one out. But Estrada regrouped, getting Mason Williams to swing over a 76-mph changeup and Ronald Torreyes to swing under another one, popping up the Yankees second baseman to end the threat.
Estrada didn't allow another hit until the seventh, when Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius got just enough of an 87-mph cutter at the letters to carry the ball over the wall in right-centre field and tie the game. It was New York's first run since Wednesday.
Estrada struck out the next batter, but then surrendered a hard-hit single to McCann, who was lifted for pinch runner Eric Young Jr., who promptly swiped second. Estrada got Headley to chase a changeup for his second out of the inning but then walked Williams to put two runners on for Torreyes, who was going to be Estrada's final batter, one way or the other.
Estrada and catcher Russell Martin began Torreyes with a curveball, which the No. 9 hitter missed badly, before earning a second strike with a fouled-off cutter. Torreyes then managed to lay off a 1-2 curveball below the zone, but couldn't resist going after a 78-mph changeup behind it, swinging through Estrada's best pitch for a momentous third out. The generally reserved Estrada yelled and pumped his fists as he left the mound, returning to a dugout of teammates waiting for him on the top step.
Troy Tulowitzki and Michael Saunders led off the bottom half of that seventh inning with well-struck singles off Yankees reliever Adam Warren, and moved up 90 feet apiece when Kevin Pillar gave New York a free out with a sacrifice bunt. But Carrera and Devon Travis both struck out chasing pitches well off the plate to strand the runners.
Joaquin Benoit got the ball in the eighth and built himself a nice little hill to climb by surrendering a leadoff double to Brett Gardner, who took a fastball the other way to beat the shift. But the veteran reliever collected himself nicely, getting Jacoby Ellsbury to fly out to left before striking out the dangerous Gary Sanchez and cleanup hitter Gregorius, both with sharp off-speed pitches, to preserve the tie.
Donaldson led off the bottom of the inning with a six-pitch walk against Yankees closer Dellin Betances, before swiping second as the tall right-hander delivered an 85-mph breaking ball to Encarnacion. Donaldson deftly moved to third on an Encarnacion groundout, and scored when Bautista lined a full count Betances curveball through a drawn-in Yankees infield, to put his team up by one.
So then, as the ubiquitous Goodyear blimp hovered in the sunlight overhead, French Montana's "Don't Panic" blared from the Rogers Centre sound system, and 47,896 rose to their feet to celebrate Osuna's arrival for what they hoped would be the final three outs.
It wasn't. Yankees veterans Teixeira and Billy Butler quickly led off with weak singles, and both moved into scoring position on a Headley comebacker that deflected off Osuna's glove. Then, New York right fielder Mason Williams caught up to a 96-mph fastball just above the zone and drove it into left field to cash the tying run.
That brought up No. 9 batter Ronald Torreyes, a stubborn little hitter who fouled off four consecutive tough pitches before lifting a 94-mph fastball into deep-enough centre field for a sacrifice fly that scored the go-ahead run.
But Osuna got out of it. And Carrera laid down a hell of a bunt. And the Blue Jays won another game.
Entertainment Plaza - TV, Movies, Sports, Music, Soaps
http://members.shaw.ca/almosthuman99
Babe Of The Month - Vote Now!
http://members.shaw.ca/almosthuman99/babeofthemonth.html
Hunk Of The Month - Vote Now!
http://members.shaw.ca/almosthuman99/babeofthemonthman.html
No comments:
Post a Comment