Long Ball Stories

So the Yankees came to town this week and took two of two from the Blue Jays, powered by their superior brawn and superb bullpen.

Ho hum.

But it wasn’t really like that at all, as it turned out, because these two games were great pitchers’ duels between equally effective starting pitchers. Both games were decided late by the greater firepower brought to bear by the swaggering visitors. Not to mention the decisive influence of their impressive bullpen.

Still and all, these games kind of made you think, didn’t they?

Tuesday Night: Andujar Slam Breaks Jays’ Hearts:

Tuesday night was a battle of the wily veterans, Marco Estrada versus C.C. Sabathia. Although Estrada’s pedigree doesn’t have nearly the length of Sabathia’s, he has been arguably the more impactful pitcher in crucial situations in recent seasons.

There are a lot of similarities between the two in their pitching styles, and even in their demeanour on the mound. Sabathia, who used to be a flame-throwing dragon, lost his fast ball years ago and relies on playing the corners. Estrada, who never had a real heater to speak of, uses his meagre power surgically to set up his killer changeup.

The rumpled, sad-sacky look of Sabathia makes it hard to take him seriously as a major league pitcher, whereas Estrada presents the appearance of what would pass for a buttoned-down businessman in professional baseball, neat beard, carefully tucked shirt, pants bloused into stirrups.

Despite the contrast in their appearances, both work quickly from a base of both feet squarely on the mound, and both take the catcher’s sign peeking out from behind their gloves like a little kid spying around a corner.

Typically, even when they’re pitching well, both Sabathia and especially Estrada will give up the occasional shot and will have to pitch out of trouble from time to time, as neither is able to really dominate opposing hitters.

On this night Estrada gave up more solid drives than Sabathia. Giancarlo Stanton, hitting second, pounded one to the wall in right for a double in the first inning, but died at third. Miguel Andujar looped a single off the end of his bat into left with two out in the second, but Estrada fanned Tyler Austin for the third out.

In the fourth inning Greg Bird led off with a ground-rule double to right, but Estrada easily retired the side on a strikeout, a short fly to centre, and a comebacker, and Bird never moved from second.

In the fifth after Andujar lined out, Austin reached on an infield single, but he was erased when he was caught stealing as Gleyber Torres struck out.

In the sixth inning Estrada’s defence rose to the occasion again to keep his shutout intact. Brett Gardner hit a liner the wrong way to left leading off, a ball that took a tricky short hop on Teoscar Hernandez, who managed to stay with the ball and hold Gardner to a single. Then Russell Martin gunned Gardner down at second on a straight steal attempt on which he was initially called safe. The video review, however, god bless its impersonal little heart, showed that Devon Travis had actually caught the ball right on the runner’s side an instant before his outstretched fingers touched the bag.

With Gardner dispatched, Stanton was retired on a fly to right and Bird fanned to end the inning. After six innings of work, Estrada had allowed no runs on five hits with no walks and 6 strikeouts, on 97 pitches. He had allowed two doubles and three singles, but never more than one base hit in an inning, and two of the hitters who reached safely against him were erased attempting to steal.

Sabathia was even better than Estrada, at least through the first five innings. He allowed a line single by Yangervis Solarte in the first inning, and walked Justin Smoak in the fourth, the only Blue Jays to reach base.

More impressive was the fact that he had set down fifteen of seventeen batters he faced on only 59 pitches through five. Estrada, by contrast, who was considerably more efficient than in his recent outings, still stood at 73 after five.

The C.C. beat continued in the bottom of the sixth as Sabathia fanned the leadoff batter Travis. This brought Teoscar Hernandez to the plate. He’d popped out leading off the game for the Jays, and grounded out to short to end the third inning. Sabathia threw three cut fast balls in three different locations to Hernandez, all around 88 miles an hour. The first one was up and out over the plate and Hernandez fouled it off. The second one was a ball, up and in.

The third one was down and in on the inside corner. Hernandez turned on it and launched a high, high fly down the left-field line that soared and soared and soared as Gardner ranged back to the wall near the line and then watched helplessly while it continued to soar into the second deck just inside the line.

Finally, the dam had burst and Toronto was on the board. Sabathia quickly regained control and retired Solarte and Smoak, the latter on a checked-swing strikeout, to take the game into the seventh inning with the Blue Jays leading 1-0.

The decision to remove a successful starting pitcher from a game is almost always the most difficult one a manager has to make, and John Gibbons faced it in the top of the seventh, with Estrada throwing a shutout but up to 97 pitches.

On the one hand, Estrada had never been in trouble in the game, even with runners on second after doubles, and why would the Yankees suddenly start to solve him now? On the other hand, they were into the third time through the order against him, and had seen all he had on this night.

Another consideration is that it’s always better to have a relief pitcher start the inning with a clean slate. If you leave the starter in you risk having to pull him mid-inning, putting the reliever in exactly the situation you would have avoided.

Add to all this the fact that Gibbie is a players’ manager, and first and foremost a manager who gives deference to his veterans. Given a choice, he will almost always give a veteran starter considerable say as to whether he should stay in the game.

And so it was that Marco Estrada came out to start the seventh against the Yankees, now with a 1-0 lead.

The last thing John Gibbons wanted to see was a leadoff base hit, but that’s just what he got; Gary Sanchez lead off with line drive single to centre. Gibbie was now triply damned: to many, he never should have sent Estrada out to start the seventh. To others, he was making a mistake to pull him after just one base hit, only his sixth of the game. And yet, if he left him in and the Yankees rallied . . .

With a guy like Seunghwan Oh, so, so, so-Oh steady Oh, ready to go in the bullpen, Gibbie quickly made the call to bring him in, and oh, what a mistake that turned out to be.

I’m sorry about the Oh puns. I won’t make another, I promise.

Down 1-0, despite the firepower in his lineup, Yankee manager Aaron Boone decided to ask Didi Gregorius to lay down a bunt to move the very slow Sanchez up to second. It worked out fine for Boone, but not as he intended. Trying to foil the bunt, presumably, Oh threw one low and inside, but it was a little too-too, and nicked Gregorius on the foot, giving him a base and moving Sanchez to second.

The dread started to spread through my body as Oh proceeded to go to 3-2 on Aaron Hicks, pitching the switch-hitter away, away, away, finally walking him on another high outside pitch to load the bases with nobody out.

This brought the rookie Miguel Andujar to the plate. Oh tried to get ahead of him by throwing a cutter right down the middle, just above the knees, but it never got there. Andujar hit it square and hit it hard, and all of a sudden it was 4-1 New York as the Yankee runners circled the bases in front of young Andujar.

Oh quickly retired the side on a strikeout, a popup, and an easy fly, but it was too late; far, far too late.

Buoyed up, obviously, by the sudden benificence of the baseball gods, C.C. Sabathia went one inning longer than Marco Estrada. He didn’t escape the seventh unscathed, but at least he didn’t allow a baserunner before Kevin Pillar unloaded on a 1-0 pitch and lofted it into the Jays’ bullpen to cut the New York lead to 4-2. Sabathia ended up giving up two runs on three hits with 1 walk and 6 strikeouts on 89 pitches.

Enter Joe Biagini to start the eighth for Toronto with one goal now that he was back in the bullpen, to keep the deficit at two so that the Jays might have some chance to come back against New York’s bullpen.

Well, that didn’t go so well. Giancarlo Stanton singled to left leading off. Biagini wild-pitched him to second Greg Bird grounded out, with Stanton moving to third. Gary Sanchez struck out for the second out.

With the left-handed Didi Gregorius coming up, John Gibbons called for Aaron Loup for the lefty matchup. Loup, who’s actually more effective against right-handed hitters, walked Gregorius, who promptly stole second.

Now Loup had to face the switch-hitting Aaron Hicks, who put the game out of reach with a three-run homer.

With a 7-2 lead and only six batters to go, the Yankees didn’t really need to use top arms out of the bullpen, but they still brought in David Robertson for the eighth; he pitched a clean inning with a strikeout.

The left-handed Chasen Shreve mopped up the ninth with two strikeouts, and what was once a fine double shutout ended up a game of two homers apiece

Problem was, New York’s two homers counted seven runs, while the Jays’ two only counted two.

It would be up to new rotation member Sam Gaviglio to try to gain a split for Toronto Wednesday night against the veteran Sonny Gray.

Wednesday Night: Twelve Shutout Innings Aren’t Enough:

For Gaviglio this would be his toughest test yet.

Sam Gaviglio had been acquired in the spring in a trade with the Kansas City Royals, and immediately optioned to Buffalo, where he would join the Triple A rotation and serve as a depth piece for Toronto’s rotation.

When the team finally bit the bullet and admitted that Marcus Stroman wasn’t right, Gaviglio was called up from the Bisons on May eleventh, and thrown immediately into the fire. He came out unscathed.

Gaviglio was sent out to pitch the tenth inning of a 3-3 tie at home with the Red Sox. All he did against the tough Sox was throw three innings of shutout ball, allowing only one base hit and striking out three on 44 pitches. For this he was awarded with the win when the Jays walked off on Luke Maile’s homer in the bottom of the twelfth.

He had another relief appearance in the same series against Boston, on the Sunday afternoon, in which he gave up one run in an inning and a third. After a clean seventh inning, he gave up a walk and a base hit in the eighth, and left with one out and a runner on third. The runner scored on a grounder allowed by Tyler Clippard, and that was the only run Gaviglio gave up in two appearances from the bullpen.

Then the decision was made that Joe Biagini wasn’t the answer to the hole left in the rotation by Stroman’s loss, and Gaviglio was given the chance to start.

Since that decision was made, there have been no regrets on the part of the Blue Jays. Gaviglio made three starts in the rotation before Wednesday night’s start against the Yankees. He went five and a third shutout innings against Oakland, gave up three runs in six innings and got the win in Philadelphia, and gave up four runs in six innings to take a loss in Fenway, so he’s provided some steady length that’s been lacking in Toronto’s location.

Starting for the Yankees was the established Sonny Gray, a New York rotation regular, and a once sought-after free agent, but a guy who blows hot and cold, both in general and against the Blue Jays.

Gray definitely blew hot against Toronto this time, and at the same time Sam Gaviglio totally passed his toughest test.

Gaviglio went seven shutout innings, and gave up only three hits and three walks while striking out four. To his credit, the more established Gray was even sharper, going eight shutout innings, giving up two hits and two walks while striking out eight.

Gary Sanchez hit a two-out ground-rule double in the fourth inning, the first hit for either team. Prior to that, only Gaviglio had been in a spot of trouble in the second when he issued his second walk of the inning with two outs, but retired Austin Romine on a fielder’s choice, with a big assist credited to Devon Travis, who flagged down Romine’s one-hop rocket to make the play to Diaz at second.

Both teams had chances in the fifth inning. The Yankees picked up their second and third hits with two outs, a base hit by Gleyber Torres and an infield hit by Brett Gardner, who beat out a dribbler that Gaviglio couldn’t get to in time. Then the Toronto starter made his only real mistake of the game, and wild-pitched the runners to second and third.

This worked out fine, though. Gaviglio had a base open and could be careful with Aaron Judge, walking him on a 3-2 count. Greg Bird ended the threat by meekly grounding out to Justin Smoak at first.

In the bottom of the fifth the lack of speed in the middle of the Toronto lineup cost the Blue Jays a run, at least. Smoak led off the inning by breaking up Gray’s perfect string of twelve outs in a row, driving a solid double into right centre. But Smoak had no chance of scoring on Kendrys Morales’ hard line single to left, charged smartly by Giancarlo Stanton, who was making one of his rare appearances in left field.

Then two terrible things happened. First, Toronto put on the horrid contact play with the lead-footed Smoak at third, and he was an easy out at the plate on Kevin Pillar’s sharp grounder to third. And after Russell Martin walked, Devon Travis did his roll-over-with-ducks-on-the-pond trick and grounded into an easy double play.

After the fifth both starters sailed to the end of their assignments, Gaviglio going seven innings and Gray eight.

Gaviglio faced the minimum in the sixth and seventh innings, striking out two, inducing a groundout, a popup, and two easy fly balls, as the unheralded right-hander continued to mess with the Yankees’ timing. His line for seven shutout innings was no runs on three hits with three walks and four strikeouts on 104 pitches.

Gray walked Granderson with one out in the sixth, but he was immediately erased by a Solarte double-play ball to second. Facing the middle of the order in the seventh, he struck out Hernandez and Smoak, though I would question the strike three call on Smoak, and then got some help from Judge in right, who went back quickly to snag a hard shot by Morales.

In his last inning the Jays went meekly on a Pillar short fly to centre, a called third strike on Martin, and a broken-bat grounder to third by Travis.

The game was then in the hands of the bullpens, from the eighth on for Toronto and from the ninth on for New York.

In the face of the vaunted reputation of the Yankee bullpen, the Jays’ relievers matched them pitch for pitch until the fateful and very unlucky thirteenth inning.

Ryan Tepera retired five straight in the eighth and ninth, gave up a two-out single to Gregorius in the ninth, and then ducked as Martin’s throw gunned Gregorius down trying to steal second. A big assist went to Travis who made a great diving tag on Gregorius, Travis’ second game-saving play of the game.

Tyler Clippard served up a leadoff double to Andujar in the tenth, then retired the next two batters before giving way to the lefty Tim Mayza who matched up with Brett Gardner. The latter sliced a liner to left that Hernandez managed to handle after a bit of adventure for the third out.

John Axford gave himself a rocky ride in the eleventh, though he started out well. He caught Judge looking on a 3-2 pitch after starting out 3 and 0. Hernandez made a magnificent sliding catch heading for the wall to get to Bird’s slicing foul fly to left for the second out. Then it got interesting. Axford walked Stanton, and proceeded to wild pitch him to second. And then to third. But all’s well . . . .. Axford fanned Sanchez on a beauty 2-2 curve ball to leave Stanton on third with the lead run.

Danny Barnes pitched the twelfth, and fanned Gregorius, walked Andujar, and then got AustinRomine (not his brother, Andrew, nor his father, Kevin) to hit into an around-the-horn double play.

The Jays, on the other hand, didn’t get a baserunner until there were two out in the eleventh. Chad Greene retired six in a row in the ninth and tenth on 23 pitches. The erratic Dellin Betances pitched the eleventh and fanned Pillar and got Martin out on a weak liner to left before giving up a sharp base hit to Travis, who stole second before Betances blew Diaz away on a 2-2 heater that touched 100 on the radar gun.

David Robertson fanned two in the twelfth before Hernandez hit him hard with a liner to left that Stanton played a bit casually, showing a sno-cone before securing the catch for the third out.

This brings us to the Yankee thirteenth, to Joe Biagini entering the game, and to the end of our story. It was quick, but not painless.

It started out with rookie star Gleyber Torroes fanning on a 2-2 cut fast ball that looked like a changeup. Then Brett Gardner lined a single to centre. There’s a reason that manager Aaron Boone has the under-the-radar Gardner leading off. He stirs up a lot of trouble on a regular basis, especially against Toronto.

You can’t really blame Biagini for the fact that Aaron Judge went down and got a good 1-2 curve ball and hit it out of the park to straightaway centre. The deadlock was finally broken, and with Gardner on it was a two-run lead, after twelve innings of two-way shutout.

Just for good measure, with two outs Biagini left a changeup in the zone for Giancarlo Stanton, and I swear to whoever that the line drive to left that he hit out left smoke trails behind it. It was out almost before you knew he hit it.

Of course, we finally saw Aroldis Chapman. Kendrys Morales tied into one of his fast balls and drilled it off the wall in right for a double, but that was it for Toronto, and the Yankees had swept the short series, primarily by hitting the ball out when it counted, and especially when it counted for more than a single run.

And yet, they were hardly walkovers, were they?