Estrada stymies Yankees as Goins goes deep
• The Blue Jay known as Go- Go has been a no-go in some games recently.
With Troy Tulowitzki the man at shortstop, Devon Travis back from injury at second base and back up infielder Darwin Barney hitting the cover off the ball, Ryan Goins has been on the odd man out.
But now Tulowitzki is on the disabled list with a sore quad and Travis, back from a serious shoulder injury, needs regular rest, so Jays manager John Gibbons gave Goins a start at his natural shortstop position against the New York Yankees on Monday night at the Rogers Centre, a move that paid off in spades.
Goins, who was hitting a paltry .151 heading into Monday’s game in 119 at bats, was a double destroyer against the Yanks in Toronto’s 4- 2 victory. He displayed his usual defensive excellence, but also led the Jays with his bat against New York starter Ivan Nova, opening up the third inning with a double and scoring on an Edwin Encarnacion grounder to short.
Leading off the fifth, Goins rapped his third home run of the year to left field to give the Jays a 4- 0 lead, marking the sixth time in his career that Goins has recorded at least two extra base hits in a game. He has two this season. He also laid down a nice sacrifice bunt in the seventh to move Kevin Pillar to third with none out, though the Jays were unable to bring Pillar home.
Goins was also in the thick of it in both Toronto double- plays with Barney at second, in the fourth and fifth innings, helping Jays starter Marco Estrada get out of a couple of jams.
The other major story for the Jays was the performance of Estrada, who stymied the New Yorkers over eight i nnings. The crafty right- hander gave up a game- opening single to Yanks’ centre- fielder Jacoby Ellsbury, but then complete- ly shut New York down, with the help of some solid defence. Estrada gave up only three hits, walked three and struck out six to improve his record to 3-2.
The performance was big as Gibbons lamented before the game that his bullpen was worn out and he had only three or four relief pitchers available, not including closer Roberto Osuna. He said it was crucial Estrada go deep into the game.
Estrada was replaced by Aaron Loup in the ninth and the left- hander struck out the lead- off hitter Rob Refsnyder. Refsnyder took Loup to a 3-2 count, fouled off a couple of pitches before striking out, a huge out for the Jays.
Loup, however, hit the next batter, Carlos Beltran, and teed up a massive home run by catcher Brian McCann to centre field, bringing the Yankees to within two. That rap brought down the wrath of the 32,921 in attendance, who have been sick of the Jays’ bullpen blowing games this season.
With Osuna unavailable given he has pitched in four out of the last five games, Gibbons brought in Drew Storen. Mark Teixeira greeted Storen with a line drive double to the right field wall. He then managed to get Starlin Castro to fly out to right and struck out Chase Headley to preserve the win. Storen picked up his third save of the season.
Estrada has now pitched at least six innings with five hits or less in seven straight starts. His biggest out was the last man he faced. In the eighth inning with Castro at third and Aaron Hicks at second, with two out, Estrada managed to get Ellsbury to pop out to end the threat.
The win ended a hit streak by Jose Bautista. Since taking over the leadoff spot in the batting order, Bautista had hit in all nine games. On Monday he picked up a walk, struck out twice and grounded to third.