Down Yankees for rare taste of victory
Jays steal Fourth of July fireworks to snap five-game losing streak
NEW YORK— The Blue Jays finally won after five straight losses, beating the Yankees 4-1 on Independence Day.
But the struggling Jays have a long way to go to get back in the race, as Tuesday’s victory was only their third in their last 12 games. But a win’s a win. Tuesday’s outing was all about J.A. Happ and his fifth-straight quality start of six innings or more, allowing three earned runs or fewer. He has a 3-1 record and a 1.99 ERA over those five outings. But this game could easily have turned out differently with one swing of Aaron Judge’s terrifying bat.
That key moment for Happ came in the fifth inning with two Yankees on and two outs. The cerebral lefty just walked Brett Gardner to put two men on and bring the tying run to the plate. It wasn’t the way the Jays drew it up for him.
“No doubt,” Happ admitted his frustration. “I lost Gardner there. I was trying to get him with the left-on-left matchup to avoid the scenario where (Judge) could tie the game with one swing. That’s the situation I was in, trying to work out of it.”
Judge already had homered off Happ. The giant right-handed swinger stared out with Casey-at-the-Bat confidence. Happ’s adrenalin took hold and he stuck to the game-plan. So on a full count, Judge swung his gavel and fanned on a 96-miles-per-hour fastball, the highest velocity for Happ all year. Amped a little bit? “I was a little bit frustrated with myself,” Happ admitted. “Maybe that brought some of that out.
“That’s a huge situation in the game. If he gets a hold of one it’s a tie ballgame after we had that big inning in the second. I was frustrated I put myself in that position even though it was an infield hit to start that inning and a walk. I was just trying to get out of it.”
The Milwaukee Braves had a pitching duo, Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain, considered unbeatable. A Braves war-cry was, “Spahn and Sain and pray for rain.” The Jays have their own duo with Happ and Marcus Stroman, with other starters injured or struggling.
For the moment, the Jays’ mantra could be “Happ and Stro’ and pray for snow.”
In that context, Happ understood Tuesday’s importance.
“For sure,” Happ said. “And Marcus pitched really good (on Monday). We’re in a position (as a team) to kind of break out of it. We just want to keep ourselves in those kinds of positions where the right things happen. Just keep playing good baseball and they’ll go our way. Now we have to go and get this one (at Yankee Stadium) tomorrow.”
The Judge at-bat became the game. He had lined a rocket home run off the back wall to the left of Monument Park, where even the ghosts of the immortals must be sitting up and paying attention to Judge’s feats.
With Aaron Sanchez returning to the rotation Friday, the Jays need serious bounce-back from Marco Estrada and continuing progress in returning from injury on the part of lefty Francisco Liriano. But a resurgence won’t be just about starting pitching — the offence needs to step it up heading to the all-star break.
When the Jays broke open Tuesday’s game with a four-run third, it was the first time they had led any game after any full inning so far in July. Outrageous. The last Toronto lead had been the fifth inning on June 30, leading the Red Sox 3-2 after five. In July, the Jays have allowed first-inning runs and trailed for 27 straight innings. On Tuesday, one inning represented the entirety of the offence. With two outs in the third, the Jays reached base six straight times against Yankees starter CC Sabathia. Bautista singled home a run. Justin Smoak walked to force in another and Kendrys Morales drilled a tworun single. Roberto Osuna notched save No. 20. Since April 29, he has 19 saves and a 1.00 ERA.
It doesn’t get any easier for the Jays as they finish up at Yankee Stadium with a Wednesday matinee, then return home for a four-game weekend set against AL West-leading Astros.