With fifteen games left in the season, the big boost the Yankees were waiting for in the return of Andy Pettitte had finally arrived as part of a day-night doubleheader when a rainy Tuesday night pushed back the longtime Yankee lefty from making his start against the visiting Toronto Blue Jays. It turns out Pettitte wasn't the only old guy in the locker room set to make some noise, Ichiro's bat and legs found a renaissance and drove the Toronto birds batty.
Although he could've pitched the night cap, the Yankees stuck with the pecking order and had Pettitte pitch the day game with David Phelps slated for the nightcap. The Yankee offense make Number 46 feel right at home again with a quick three-spot on the board early against Henderson Alvarez. Robinson Cano doubled in Ichiro for the first Yankee run, then a RBI groundout and sac fly pushed the 1st inning score to 3-0 Yanks. Andy Pettitte did his thing from there; putting base runners on, but generating double-plays to get him out of jams. Pettitte would go 5 innings, giving up 4 hits, 2 walks, and 3 strikeouts for the win (his first since June). The Blue Jays made a game of it in the 8th when they got to a shaky David Robertson in the 8th for two runs and Girardi needed to go to Rafael Soriano to get the final out in the inning, a line-drive to left that Ichiro caught in the face of the blinding sun. Speaking of Ichiro, he would double in the 8th (his third hit of the game) and later score to make it 4-2 Yankees on a Nick Swisher Soriano came back out in the 9th to finish the game off for his 41st save of the season which made Pettitte's return that much more pleasant.
A few hours later David Phelps and Ricky Romero locked up with Romero looking to even up the series at a game a piece. Both pitchers proved stingy throughout the night, but it was Phelps that gave up the first run when in the 2nd he gave up a RBI single to Adeiny Hechavarria. Phelps' battery mate Chris Stewart got that run back in the bottom of the inning when his ground rule double plated Casey McGehee, but the Yanks lost a run on the play when the speedy Ichiro was forced to stay at turn when he would've scored had the ball not ended up in the stands. Phelps was solid over 6.2 innings, but didn't stay in long enough to get the win. In the bottom of the 8th, the Yankees stole a page from the Tampa Bay Rays playbook after Curtis Granderson lead off the inning with a walk. Jayson Nix successfully sacrifice bunted him over to second base. The also speedy Granderson stole third and set it up for pinch-hitting Steve Pearce to get him in, but Pearce failed with a strikeout, and that left it up to the surging Ichiro to get the runner in with two outs. The Japanese sensation didn't disappoint and slapped a ball to the opposite field that scored Granderson and gave the Yankees the narrow 2-1 lead. Even though he closed out the day game, Girardi went with Soriano again in the 9th to seal the deal for the Yankees that brought Soriano his second save of the day, and 42nd of 2012.
In no way was Yankees manager Joe Girardi gonna sit the hot-hitting Ichiro Suzuki, even though Toronto was sending up a left-hander to start the third and final game of the series, Aaron Laffey. Through all the peeks and valleys of Phil Hughes circa 2012, he gunning for his mind-boggling 16th win of the season and things weren't looking good by the by the third inning when he had the bases loaded full of Blue Jays and already down 1-0. Hughes ended up hitting Moises Sierra to bring in a run that made it 2-0 in favor of the Jays. Then Ichiro got things cooking; first with a homerun in the bottom of the inning, and then in the fourth with bases loaded with Yankees this time, Ichiro pulled a double to right that swung the lead back over to the Yanks at 3-2. The fun in the inning didn't end there for the hometeam, Jeter would slap a single to bring in another run, and then to top off the inning, Nick Swisher crushed a grandslam deep into the Yankee Stadium night for a whopping 8-2 Yankee lead.
With the big lead, Phil Hughes still struggled to get hitters out and gave two of those runs back in the fifth from a 2-run shot from Moises Sierra, who he plunked with the bases loaded earlier in the game. Hughes was only able to go the 5 innings, but it was enough to qualify for his 16th win of the season, which leads all other Yankee starters - somehow. The Yanks tacked on more runs to make it more of a blowout again in the bottom of the same inning, but in the top of the eighth, things got interesting again. The expanded September roster brought the return of the forgotten Cory Wade and he made the Yankees remember why they sent him down many months ago. Wade gave up three runs in the innings and required Chamberlain to secure the final out, which then turned the blowout game into a save situation. With the heavy workload of Rafael Soriano from the day before, Girardi instead went with the original replacement for Rivera, David Robertson, and he notched the save for the team.
From the last time Toronto visited the Yankees and made them look like a last place team, this time the 86-63 Yankees looked like the team on the right path to inch out the Baltimore Orioles for the AL East. An important sign was Pettitte coming back strong and feeling normal after his long awaited start, but another was the emergence of Ichiro as a homerun-hitting and base-stealing menace spark the Yanks were looking for when they brought him over from Seattle. More returns are on tap for the Bombers as it was announced that Brett Gardner would be re-activated soon and used as a possible pinch-runner if the Yanks are able to reach the playoffs. Back at their high-water mark for the season with twenty-three games over .500, next up for the Yankees is a another team threatening to take a Wild Card slot, the Oakland Athletics...
Although he could've pitched the night cap, the Yankees stuck with the pecking order and had Pettitte pitch the day game with David Phelps slated for the nightcap. The Yankee offense make Number 46 feel right at home again with a quick three-spot on the board early against Henderson Alvarez. Robinson Cano doubled in Ichiro for the first Yankee run, then a RBI groundout and sac fly pushed the 1st inning score to 3-0 Yanks. Andy Pettitte did his thing from there; putting base runners on, but generating double-plays to get him out of jams. Pettitte would go 5 innings, giving up 4 hits, 2 walks, and 3 strikeouts for the win (his first since June). The Blue Jays made a game of it in the 8th when they got to a shaky David Robertson in the 8th for two runs and Girardi needed to go to Rafael Soriano to get the final out in the inning, a line-drive to left that Ichiro caught in the face of the blinding sun. Speaking of Ichiro, he would double in the 8th (his third hit of the game) and later score to make it 4-2 Yankees on a Nick Swisher Soriano came back out in the 9th to finish the game off for his 41st save of the season which made Pettitte's return that much more pleasant.
A few hours later David Phelps and Ricky Romero locked up with Romero looking to even up the series at a game a piece. Both pitchers proved stingy throughout the night, but it was Phelps that gave up the first run when in the 2nd he gave up a RBI single to Adeiny Hechavarria. Phelps' battery mate Chris Stewart got that run back in the bottom of the inning when his ground rule double plated Casey McGehee, but the Yanks lost a run on the play when the speedy Ichiro was forced to stay at turn when he would've scored had the ball not ended up in the stands. Phelps was solid over 6.2 innings, but didn't stay in long enough to get the win. In the bottom of the 8th, the Yankees stole a page from the Tampa Bay Rays playbook after Curtis Granderson lead off the inning with a walk. Jayson Nix successfully sacrifice bunted him over to second base. The also speedy Granderson stole third and set it up for pinch-hitting Steve Pearce to get him in, but Pearce failed with a strikeout, and that left it up to the surging Ichiro to get the runner in with two outs. The Japanese sensation didn't disappoint and slapped a ball to the opposite field that scored Granderson and gave the Yankees the narrow 2-1 lead. Even though he closed out the day game, Girardi went with Soriano again in the 9th to seal the deal for the Yankees that brought Soriano his second save of the day, and 42nd of 2012.
In no way was Yankees manager Joe Girardi gonna sit the hot-hitting Ichiro Suzuki, even though Toronto was sending up a left-hander to start the third and final game of the series, Aaron Laffey. Through all the peeks and valleys of Phil Hughes circa 2012, he gunning for his mind-boggling 16th win of the season and things weren't looking good by the by the third inning when he had the bases loaded full of Blue Jays and already down 1-0. Hughes ended up hitting Moises Sierra to bring in a run that made it 2-0 in favor of the Jays. Then Ichiro got things cooking; first with a homerun in the bottom of the inning, and then in the fourth with bases loaded with Yankees this time, Ichiro pulled a double to right that swung the lead back over to the Yanks at 3-2. The fun in the inning didn't end there for the hometeam, Jeter would slap a single to bring in another run, and then to top off the inning, Nick Swisher crushed a grandslam deep into the Yankee Stadium night for a whopping 8-2 Yankee lead.
With the big lead, Phil Hughes still struggled to get hitters out and gave two of those runs back in the fifth from a 2-run shot from Moises Sierra, who he plunked with the bases loaded earlier in the game. Hughes was only able to go the 5 innings, but it was enough to qualify for his 16th win of the season, which leads all other Yankee starters - somehow. The Yanks tacked on more runs to make it more of a blowout again in the bottom of the same inning, but in the top of the eighth, things got interesting again. The expanded September roster brought the return of the forgotten Cory Wade and he made the Yankees remember why they sent him down many months ago. Wade gave up three runs in the innings and required Chamberlain to secure the final out, which then turned the blowout game into a save situation. With the heavy workload of Rafael Soriano from the day before, Girardi instead went with the original replacement for Rivera, David Robertson, and he notched the save for the team.
From the last time Toronto visited the Yankees and made them look like a last place team, this time the 86-63 Yankees looked like the team on the right path to inch out the Baltimore Orioles for the AL East. An important sign was Pettitte coming back strong and feeling normal after his long awaited start, but another was the emergence of Ichiro as a homerun-hitting and base-stealing menace spark the Yanks were looking for when they brought him over from Seattle. More returns are on tap for the Bombers as it was announced that Brett Gardner would be re-activated soon and used as a possible pinch-runner if the Yanks are able to reach the playoffs. Back at their high-water mark for the season with twenty-three games over .500, next up for the Yankees is a another team threatening to take a Wild Card slot, the Oakland Athletics...
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