Mariano Rivera enjoys sharing the spotlight with his teammates, so maybe that is why he blew the save yesterday against the Blue Jays and opened the door for journeyman Marcus Thames’ game-winning single in extra innings.
Hey, there has to be some reason, right? Rivera doesn’t just give up runs like ordinary pitchers.
In fact, the 40-year-old, who has a 1.11 ERA and 18 saves in 20 chances — and was named an All-Star yesterday — had not blown a save since May 16 and had not surrendered a run since May 21. Rivera strikes guys out, he breaks bats, he gets a lot of ground balls, he does charity work. But he doesn’t give up runs.
So, maybe he just wanted to give someone else a chance to shine in front of the 46,810 holiday revelers on hand at Yankee Stadium to celebrate America’s 234th birthday — and George Steinbrenner’s 80th.
“I tried to do my best,” Rivera said. “Just one of those days the ball finds the holes.”
There goes that theory.
Rivera inherited a 6-5 lead when he took over to start the ninth inning. He allowed three singles, the last of which came off the bat of DeWayne Wise and drove in Lyle Overbay to tie the game at 6-6.
Rivera was saddled with his second blown save of the season, but Thames saved the day and the Yankees prevailed 7-6 in 10 innings.
“It’s hot, and the guys were tired,” Rivera said of the scorching 93-degree heat. “So I wanted to do the job as quick as possible and get out of there. I just couldn’t do it.”
Rivera had thrown 18 innings over 16 appearances since he last gave up a run and had recorded 10 saves and two wins over that span.
Neither manager Joe Girardi nor Rivera gave a specific reason for Rivera’s struggles yesterday.
“Mo, every once in a while, shows that he’s human,” Girardi said.
