Errors, wild pitches, sacrifice flies and hit batters were the story of this one.
The New York Yankees left it until the eight inning to comeback from 3-1 down to win 4-3 against the Toronto Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium Wednesday night.
The elements in New York didn’t favour that of a ball game. The weather on this night was brisk, frigid, and wet, and did it ever play a part in this one.
A pitching duel between Michael Pineda (0-0) and R.A. Dickey (0-0) kept things close with neither team able to generate enough offense to give them a big lead. However, the Jays were able to muster a couple of runs to give them a 2-0 advantage.
Kevin Pillar singled to third base to open the top of the third for the Jays. Justin Smoak followed that up with a double, moving Pillar to third. Second baseman Devon Travis then singled, scoring Pillar putting the Jays ahead.
Travis singled to get on base again in the fifth inning. Shortstop Jose Reyes singled on a ground ball to second baseman Stephen Drew. However, a throwing error by Drew moved Reyes and Travis over a base.
The Yankees were finally able to get to Dickey in the bottom of the sixth. Jacoby Ellsbury singled to left field to start things off. The center fielder then stole second (1) to move himself into scoring position. Brett Gardner grounded out to move Ellsbury to third. A sacrifice fly from Carlos Beltran scored Ellsbury.
After Jose Bautista walked to get on base for the Jays in the eighth, Edwin Encarnacion singled to left field, moving Bautista to third. Yankees catcher Brian McCann attempted to pick off Encarnacion at first, instead making a throwing error and allowing Bautista to stroll home.
That gave the Jays a nice cushion, leading 3-1 heading into the bottom of the eighth.
However, that is when the elements began to pick up. The heavens opened up and it began to drizzle down, mixing in with the already chilly temperatures.
Reliever Aaron Loup came in to replace Miguel Castro, and he struggled to get anything to go his way.
Chris Young doubled after a routine fly out was tossed and turned in the air, dropping in-between a sprawling Travis and Bautista. Ellsbury followed that up with a single moving Young to third. Gardner was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
Loup (0-1) failed to register a single out and was replaced by Brett Cecil.
A wild pitch from Cecil allowed Young to come home to make it 3-2. With runners on second and third, Cecil intentionally walked Mark Teixeira for a potential double play situation.
However, Cecil followed that up with hitting McCann, giving Ellsbury a free walk home to tie the score. Chase Headly came up to the plate; he hit the ball straight to the mound, deflecting off Cecil, rolling to shortstop Reyes, who failed to field it before it finally rolled into the outfield.
On a crazy string of plays, Gardner came home to score to put the Yankees ahead 4-3. Roberto Osuna replaced Cecil; he struck out Alex Rodriguez and got Drew to fly out to end a nightmare of an inning for the Jays.
Big free agent signing Andrew Miller came into the ball game to shut out the game and did just that, notching his first save as a Yankee.
Pineda and Dickey picked up no decisions respectively, with Loup charged with the loss, allowing two hits, three earned runs, throwing just eight pitches, and finishing the day with an ERA of 16.20.
CC Sabathia and Daniel Norris take the mound for their respective sides in tomorrow’s rubber match between the two sides. The first pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. EDT.