NEW YORK – Jose Bautista homered with one out in the 10th inning after two of the top slugging teams in the major leagues engaged in a tense pitchers’ duel, lifting the surging Toronto Blue Jays over the New York Yankees 2-1 on Friday night, their sixth straight win.
Bautista connected off Branden Pinder to pull Toronto within 3 1-2 games of the AL East-leading Yankees.
Brett Cecil gave up a single in the ninth for the win. Roberto Osuna pitched a perfect 10th for his ninth save, the third scoreless inning for Toronto’s bullpen.
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The first of 13 games remaining between the division rivals started as most expected, with a slugfest. Josh Donaldson hit his 30th for Toronto in the first and Mark Teixeira connected for his 30th an inning later – after a replay reversal – giving the Yankees a homer in 13 straight games.
But then R.A. Dickey and Nathan Eovaldi settled in and set down these powerful lineups with two very different styles. Dickey was the second soft-tossing knuckleballer the Yankees faced in three games. Eovaldi has one of the highest fastball averages for starters in the majors. They both were dominant through six innings.
The Blue Jays put two on in the seventh and Yankees manager Joe Girardi brought in Justin Wilson, who struck out Ben Revere. Dellin Betances then entered and walked Troy Tulowitzki. But Betances got Donaldson to ground out to second to end the inning to a loud cheer.
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Winners of nine of 10 since Tulowitkzi entered the Toronto lineup on July 29, after a trade with Colorado, the Blue Jays looked loose before what manager John Gibbons called the most important series in the Bronx for Toronto in 20 years.
A group played some serious soccer in left field before batting practice and Liam Hendrickson zipped around on a CyBoard – it’s like a Segway without something to hold onto. Another newcomer, David Price, said the clubhouse “is easy to come into and feel comfortable.”
And they went up on Donaldson’s homer to right-centre.
Teixeira’s fly ball to left appeared to slip through the hands of a fan in the front row and miss the glove of a leaping Revere. The Yankees slugger stopped at second base, and Girardi requested an appeal.
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After 3 minutes, 56 seconds, the call was overturned and Teixeira, a switch-hitter batting righty against the right-handed Dickey, had his 30th – the ninth season he reached that plateau.
The Yankees have successfully won eight straight replay challenges and 14 of their last 15.
Teixeira’s homer gave New York 147, their total for all last season. It’s also two fewer than Toronto, who is second in the majors behind Houston, which entered the night with 153.
Eovaldi pitched beyond the sixth inning for only the second time in 10 starts, allowing five hits in 6 1-3 innings.
Dickey had his sixth straight start of allowing two or fewer runs. He yielded six hits in seven innings. The Yankees mustered just one run and four hits over eight innings Wednesday against Boston knuckleballer Steven Wright.
UP NEXT
Blue Jays: LHP Price makes his second start for Toronto since being acquired just before the nonwaiver trade deadline. He had 11 Ks in an electrifying debut for the Jays. But he struggled in his last two starts against the Yankees, giving up eight runs each time.
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