Cecil picks up where Price leaves off in Jays’ victory
The first inning inspired optimism among Toronto Blue Jays fans, and a sense of something unfinished as well.
After that, the crowd would relax when the Jays came to bat. When it was the New York Yankees’ turn, unease enveloped the sellout crowd, except when David Price pinned two strikes on a Yankees batter, at which time the clapping and cheering and oohing and aahing commenced, rising and falling with each pitch until the at-bat ended.
In short, it felt like a playoff game, which, in a way, it was. And it was a thriller.
The Blue Jays struck the first blow in this showdown series for first place, winning 4-2, thanks to a brilliant start by Price and a dazzling bit of relief by Brett Cecil, who struck out three Yankees in a row with two runners aboard in the eighth.
The win extended Toronto’s lead over the Yankees to 3 1/2 games.
Price was superb. Over seven innings, he allowed no runs and just two hits, both singles, and guarded a 3-0 lead like a junkyard dog. He escaped a bases-loaded predicament, walked just one, struck out seven and retired the final 14 batters he faced.
The first three Toronto batters reached base against Adam Warren, and all three scored, conjuring fantasies of a rout among the 47,648 fans at the Rogers Centre. But the eight-batter inning produced no more runs.
Yankees manager Joe Girardi must have felt a modicum of relief. Remarking before the game on the Jays’ 11-5 record against his team, he concisely outlined the challenge they faced.
“They’ve hit better than we have,” Girardi said. “They’ve hit their share of homers off us, put up some big numbers.”
And it unfolded that way, minus the homers.
Up 3-0, the Jays finally added a fourth run in the seventh on Russ Martin’s sacrifice fly after loading the bases with none out. Again, it felt insufficient, especially when Aaron Sanchez surrendered a walk and single to open the eighth, and Cecil allowed an RBI single to Jacoby Ellsbury.
But Cecil bore down and struck out Brett Gardner, Alex Rodriguez and Brian McCann, then pumped his fist in triumph as the crowd exploded.
Price was not only magnificent on the mound, but complemented his pitching with theatrical grace notes. The first batter he faced, Ellsbury, hit a blistering line drive up the middle. Somehow it found Price’s glove.
In the third inning, owing in part to a Cliff Pennington throwing error, the Yankees loaded the bases with one out. Naturally, the storyteller’s plot brought the villainous A-Rod to the plate. Jubilation filled the Rogers Centre when Price struck him out on a 3-2 pitch, and when he forced McCann to fly out and end the threat.
With two outs in the sixth, the Toronto defence veered hard right for the left-handed-hitting McCann, leaving a gulf on the left side. McCann hit a towering popup above the third-base line. Price trotted over, waiting, as pitchers do, for his third baseman to take charge. But Josh Donaldson, stationed at deep shortstop, was too distant. Price casually caught the ball, turned and gave Donaldson a playful “where were you?” look.
Roberto Osuna gave up a Greg Bird homer in the ninth. It didn’t matter.