On a day when six Yankees found out they were All-Stars, a lesser star won the game for them.
Marcus Thames hit a walk-off, pinch-hit single in the 10th inning to give the Yankees a 7-6 victory over the Blue Jays in a wacky game before a holiday crowd of 46,810 at Yankee Stadium.
The clutch hit from Thames ended a bizarre game that had three Yankees thrown out at the plate, an inside-the-park home run and a blown save from Mariano Rivera.
It was a fitting capper to the first half of the season for the Yankees, who reach the halfway point with the best record in baseball (50-31), but still looking like a flawed team.
Thames saved the day when he batted for Ramiro Pena against Toronto lefty David Purcey. The Yankees activated Thames yesterday morning after he spent 18 games on the disabled list with a strained right hamstring.
He hit Purcey’s 3-2 offering into short center field, breaking his bat in the process, to drive in Robinson Cano from second base. Thames has the Yankees’ only two walk-off hits this year, and got the whipped cream pie treatment from A.J. Burnett.
“That’s a huge hit for us,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “It was nice to get him back.”
The arrival of Thames bolstered a Yankees bench that had been filled with rookies. Thames is a nine-year veteran who has hit .305 in his career as a pinch hitter.
“I knew my role coming into the season so I don’t get frustrated because I don’t get to play that much,” Thames said. “Just make sure you’re ready to play because anything can happen. That’s been my role pretty much in my career. I know how to prepare for it.”
Yankees starter, Phil Hughes, one of the team’s All-Stars, had another rough outing. He allowed three home runs, tying his career high, and his ERA rose to 3.83.
“Today it seemed like every bad pitch I made they made me pay but we got a win out of it so we’ll take it,” Hughes said.
The big blast for the Jays was DeWayne Wise’s three-run homer in the fifth inning that gave Toronto a 4-3 lead.
The Yankees missed three scoring opportunities in the game when they got gunned down at home plate by great throws from Alex Gonzalez, Wise and Jose Bautista.
Wise’s one mistake in the field allowed the Yankees to tie the game, 5-5, in the sixth. He lost Brett Gardner’s fly ball in the sun, and the ball bounced off his glove. Gardner motored around the bases for an inside-the-park home run. This came a day after Gardner hit a grand slam, the first player to do that in consecutive games since Scott Rolen in 1999.
Teixeira gave the Yankees a one-run lead with a double in the seventh inning, but Rivera blew his second save of the season when Wise singled home Lyle Overbay to make it 6-6.
David Robertson made it through a shaky 10th, getting help from Rodriguez, who turned a bunt attempt into a 5-6-4 double play.
The Yankees now return to the West Coast before next week’s All-Star break.
“We’re in first place,” Girardi said of the first half. “We’re on pace to win 100 games. But I feel that we can play better. I do. I don’t think we’ve hit on all cylinders during the course of this season yet. Our starting pitching has been really influential in our record. I think we can pitch better in the bullpen and I think we can hit more.
“In saying that, we’re still 50-31 with the best record in baseball and that’s a good thing.”
