Yankees 7 – Blue Jays 4
TORONTO – It was time for Alex Rodriguez, perhaps the biggest draw in Yankee history since Babe Ruth, to produce on the field and end his miserable slump with runners in scoring position.
Last night at SkyDome against bullet-throwing reliever Jason Frasor, A-Rod delivered a two-run single in the ninth inning to snap a 4-4 tie and lift the Yankees to a 7-4 victory over the Blue Jays in front of 35,682.
A-Rod started the night hitless in his last 11 at-bats in the clutch and stretched that to 0-for-13 by hitting into a killer double play in the fifth and grounding out softly in the seventh. Those outs extended his recent slide to 4-for-29 (.138) and had people wondering how long it would be before Joe Torre deleted A-Rod from the cleanup spot.
In the ninth, with first base open, the Blue Jays elected to pitch to A-Rod after Derek Jeter opened the inning with a walk and Gary Sheffield followed with a double. When Frasor got ahead of A-Rod, 0-2, with a pair of 94 mph fastballs, it looked like a great plan. But A-Rod turned on the next heater and rifled a single to left that plated Jeter and Sheffield for a 6-4 lead.
After A-Rod was balked to second, Hideki Matsui added an RBI single for a 7-4 advantage.
The victory enabled the Yankees, who fell behind, 4-0, after three innings, to stay 5 ½ games ahead of the second-placed Red Sox (4-1 winners over Detroit) in the AL East.
A-Rod’s hit made a winner out of C.J. Nitkowski (1-1), who retired Carlos Delgado and Eric Hinske in the eight.
Mariano Rivera recorded the final three outs for his 44th save in 47 chances.
After walking Delgado to put runners on first and second with no outs in the third and the Blue Jays leading, 4-0, Jon Lieber retired the next 13 batters until Chris Woodward singled to center with one out in the seventh and the score tied at 4.
Lieber retired Alex Rios leading off the eighth and turned it over to Nitkowski to face Delgado. One pitch later Delgado was gone via a grounder to Jeter, who was playing on the right side of the infield. Nitkowski ended the inning by fanning Hinske, another left-handed hitter.
Lieber allowed four runs and six hits in 71/3 innings.
With the Yankees trailing by a run in the sixth, Kenny Lofton’s two-out single tied the score and chased starter Dave Bush.
Jorge Posada and John Olerud singled off Bush with one out in the sixth and Miguel Cairo’s fly to center moved Posada to third. Lofton, who had singled home a run during the Yankees’ three-run fifth, plated Posada with a single to right.
Vinnie Chulk replaced Bush and retired Bernie Williams on a chopper back to him that stranded two runners.
Bush plunked Sheffield in the first and walked Williams in the second, but didn’t allow a hit until John Olerud singled to center with one out in the fifth when the Yankees scored three runs and cut the deficit to 4-3.
Shortstop Chris Woodward threw away Posada’s routine ground ball starting the fifth inning. Olerud followed with a single and Cairo’s single to left loaded the bases for Lofton. Bush jumped ahead, 0-2, before Lofton slapped a single to left that scored Posada. Williams’ fly to center plated Olerud and Jeter’s bloop single to center scored Cairo and sent Lofton to third.
Bush walked Sheffield to load the bases for A-Rod, whose problems with runners in scoring position continued. Bush’s first two pitches were inside with the second one almost hitting A-Rod. At 2-0, A-Rod had Bush in a perfect spot, but he hit the next offering on the ground up the middle. Woodward easily gloved the ball to start an inning-ending 6-3 double play.
