Dickey, Blue Jays finally bust loose against Yankees
New York had won 12 of previous 13
TORONTO This one was shaping up as usual, which did not bode well for the Blue Jays, because when the score is tight, they usually lose.
And when R.A. Dickey pitches, the score is usually tight and they usually lose.
Of course, they usually lose anyway. And when they play the New York Yankees, it gets ridiculous. As in 12 losses in 13 games ridiculous. If the Yankees make it to the postseason, they should vote the Blue Jays a share of their playoff bonus.
Last week in New York, the Jays lost four games in three days, with each of the last three games decided by one or two runs.
This one was 2-2 entering the bottom of the fifth. The Jays’ popgun offence was cobbling together walks and a bunt and a bloop to do its damage to Phil Hughes and his 4.88 ERA.
But then, in the bottom of the fifth, the Jays scored three runs — almost a game’s worth for the current month — and they actually hit five balls hard, and when the counting ended they had a 5-2 lead (OK, so one of those hard-hit balls clanked off the glove of right-fielder Ichiro Suzuki to keep the rally going, but the Jays capitalized, which they seldom do, so this is a rare opportunity to use “opportunistic” in a story).
It is also a rare opportunity to write that the Blue Jays won a game and against the Yankees to boot, this by a 5-2 score.
Dickey earned his 10th win, allowing two runs — one earned — over 61/3 innings. He left with a lead for just the second time in his last 10 starts.
Along with their embarrassing record against the Yankees, the Blue Jays entered the game with a record of 8-16 for August. In those games, they were averaging 3.75 runs per game while their opponents averaged 5.17. So less than 1.5 runs per game made the difference and for the Jays, it was a big difference.
Dickey handed over the three-run lead to new papa Aaron Loup, just back from New Orleans after greeting his new daughter. Loup struck out two batters to finish that inning and another to start the next and, after he had two outs and a man on in the eighth, Sergio Santos came in and struck out Alex Rodriguez, which occasioned great mirth among most of the 35,241 in the Rogers Centre.
Rodriguez had hit a homer off Dickey in the fifth, which tied the score at 2-2. That same inning, Dickey gave up two more hits and a walk to fill the bases, but coaxed a fly ball out of Robinson Cano to end that threat.
In that fifth-inning rally, Jose Reyes doubled and Ryan Goins, who continues to impress since his call-up from Buffalo, notched his second single of the night. The tiebreaking run scored when Suzuki dropped Edwin Encarnacion’s drive near the warning track.
Adam Lind followed with an RBI double and Moises Sierra topped it off with a sacrifice fly.