Guess which one they lost. And guess which one had beautiful sunshine. Right, it was Sunday, when I was there, and got a loss and a nasty sunburn.
Last night, in the opener of a 3-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium, CC Sabathia started for the Pinstripes, and did his job: 6 innings, 2 runs, 6 hits, 2 walks, 9 strikeouts. Those 2 runs came in the 1st inning, which was worrying, given the 9-0 hole the Yankees fell into against Houston in the 1st 4 innings on Sunday. But he settled down, and gave the Yankee bats the chance to win the game.
It was still 2-0 Toronto in the bottom of the 5th, when, with 1 out, DJ LeMahieu got the team going again, grounding to 2nd base, and beating out an infield single. Luke Voit singled to left. And Aaron Hicks hit a home run into the right-field seats. As I've said before, "HIX STIX SLAYZ JAYZ." 3-2 Yankees.
The Bronx Bombers unloaded in the 6th. Didi Gregorius led off with a single, Gleyber Torres doubled, Gio Urshela beat out an infield single to get Didi home, Brett Gardner grounded into a fielder's choice that scored Torres, LeMahieu singled, Voit doubled home Gardy and DJLM, Hicks drew a walk, Gary Sanchez struck out, and then Giancarlo Stanton did what we got him to do, hitting one 445 feet to center field, over Monument Park. 10-2 Yankees.
Surely, the Yankee bullpen wasn't going to blow that lead. Tommy Kahnle pitched a perfect 7th. But then Aaron Boone brought Jonathan Holder in to pitch the top of the 8th. As it was on Sunday, when he was fine, it was the kind of situation where, if you gotta bring a struggling pitcher in to boost his confidence, this was the time to do it, except, this time, the big lead was in the Yankees' favor.
And it almost became the biggest debacle of Boone's managing career so far. Here is what Holder allowed: Home run, single, single, single, grand slam home run. Five batters, 11 total bases, 5 runs, no outs. An infinite ERA.
Boone brought in Chad Green, who was supposed to start tonight's game. Green struck the next 2 batters out, but then allowed 2 infield singles. So Boone brought Adam Ottavino in, and he got the last out, the shakiest striking out of the side I've ever seen. Nevertheless, it ended the threat. 10-7.
Aroldis Chapman came on for the 9th, in what never should have been a save situation, but now was one. And he almost blew it, although it wasn't all his fault. He got the 1st out, then allowed a double, which Stanton mishandled, putting the runner on 3rd. The next batter hit a sacrifice fly, and now it was only a 2-run lead. Cliche Alert: As John Sterling taught us, "That's just a bloop and a blast." Or a walk and a wallop. But Chapman got the last out.
Scoring 10 runs at home and blowing an 8-run lead? That would have been the Yankees' worst loss of the year. Instead, it ended Yankees 10, Blue Jays 8. WP: Sabathia (5-4). SV: Chapman (22). LP: Aaron Sanchez (3-10).
The Tampa Bay Rays were idle, so the Yankees moved to 5 games ahead of them, the same number in the all-important loss column. The Boston Red Sox won, so the Yankees stay 8 ahead of them, 9 in the loss column. The Yankees' Magic Number to win the American League Eastern Division is 80.
Apparently, the Yankees have had it with Holder: They've sent him down to Scranton, and called up Stephen Tarpley. He could be bad, but, at least functionally, he can't be any worse than Holder's been.
The series continues tonight. As it turns out, Boone still intends to start Green, and then bullpen it the rest of the way. The Jays are planning to start Clayton Richard: 0-3, 7.46 ERA. In the immortal words of Chicago Cubs fan Bill Murray, "So I got that going for me, which is nice."
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