Jays’ muted bats do Buehrle no favour
Yankees close in on Toronto
collective batting average against him was .296. Brett Gardner and Brian McCann, both left-handed hitters, had combined to bat .355 against him.
But even though Gardner and McCann continued NEW YORK — Mark Buehrle has prospered this season, in part because of his knack for putting runners on base and leaving them there. But he had his work cut out for him against the New York Yankees.
The Toronto Blue Jays’ left-hander had stranded 80 per cent of his baserunners entering Wednesday’s start in Yankee Stadium. That’s up from his career average of 70.4 per cent. That is due in part to Buehrle’s wellplaced pitches as well as the Jays’ improved defence and their increased use of shifts this season.
But the Yankees’ lineup posed a formidable challenge. Eight of their starters had faced Buehrle, and their to pester him, Buehrle was hardly the chief culprit in the Jays’ 7-3 loss. He worked six innings, allowing three runs (two earned) before relievers Chad Jenkins and Brett Cecil combined to surrender four runs in the seventh.
And the Jays’ hitters continued their June quietude. They are averaging 3.2 runs per game this month.
Meanwhile, the Yankees closed to within 2 ½ games of first-place Toronto, with a chance to shave off another game on Thursday night.
McCann’s two-run homer was the big blow against Buehrle, but Yankee starter Chase Whitley may have dealt the Jays another blow. In the fourth inning, he threw an 83 mph changeup that caught Brett Lawrie squarely on the back of his left hand. Lawrie grimaced in pain, but stayed in the game, scored a run and played another inning at third base. After he left an inning later, X-rays were negative. He is listed as dayto-day.
In 2011, Lawrie was hit by a pitch and suffered a fracture in the same hand while he was playing in Triple-A.
Colby Rasmus, just back from five weeks on the disabled list, drove in a run with a single.
Jenkins quickly loaded the bases after taking over for Buehrle in the seventh. The left-handed Cecil, making his first appearance since he tweaked a groin muscle on Friday, walked in a run and gave up a basesclearing triple to McCann, who, like Gardner, is hitting better against left-handers than right-handers this season.
The Jays have lost eight of their past 11 games, largely because of a severe offensive slump. They collected only seven scattered hits on Wednesday, with three bunched in the fourth inning when they scored two runs.
Buehrle (10-4, 2.32 ERA) allowed six hits in his sixinning, 103-pitch session. One of the runs was unearned, owing to the official scorer charging Lawrie with a tough error when he barehanded, then fumbled, a slow roller in the first inning that advanced Gardner’s leadoff single.
In May, the Jays scored 5.5 runs per game while surging into first place with a 21-9 record.
In June they have averaged just over three runs per game. Their record for the month is 8-8.
They still lead the majors with 93 homers, but they have hit only 13 in June and just two in their past eight games.