New York Yankees play tier series against Toronto Blue Jays – MLB Review
The New York Yankees’ 2011 season was full of ups and downs. Sometimes they reached to a level that other clubs started to call them World Series Champions, but sometimes they acted as if they are the weakest club in the Majors.
Yankees won four of their first five series. The only series they lost was against the old rivals Boston Red Sox and it was their first road series. Now they had to take on the Toronto Blue Jays in two-game series, at Rogers Centre in Toronto. It was the
second series the club had to play away from home.
Yankees’ manager Joe Girardi was aware of the importance of winning this game. However, the Blue Jays gave a tough time to the Yankees and managed to win the outing 6-5.
It was the first outing that proved real electrifying for the Yankees since the start of the season despite the club had played against old rivals Boston Red Sox, Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers.
Allan James Burnett opened the game for his third start and received a homer by Jose Bautista in the bottom of the first inning. It caused trouble for the Yankees as Jorge Posada and Russell Martin joined hands to take the club to 2-1 in the top of the second
inning.
Blue Jays levelled it at 2-2 in the bottom of the third and then after a delay of three innings, Mark Teixeira launched a two-run homer to advance the Yankees to 4-2.
Burnett was struggling to stabilise his pitching. He gave away one more run to help the Blue Jays reduce the deficit to 4-3 in the bottom of the sixth inning. However, Girardi called Burnett off and sent David Robertson to complete the inning. Following
him, Joba Chamberlain and Rafael Soriano also worked scoreless innings.
The Yankees enjoyed a 5-3 lead until the top of the ninth inning, but then the Blue Jays’ Yunel Escobar scored an RBI single to reduce it to 5-4 and John McDonald tied the game at 5-all. The game entered into the tenth inning and bewildered the Yankees as
they remained unable to add anything on the board in the top, but the Blue Jays managed to close down the outing 6-5.
Girardi was furious on the unusual loss and the bullpen was aware of the outcome. On April 20, Bartolo Colon started the second outing and held the opposition to just two runs in just over six innings. He struck-out seven batters and grabbed his first win
of the season. Boone Logan, Lance Pendleton and Rafael Soriano helped him through his opening win.
Colon was happy to get his first win of the season and he said, "It's very special for me. The shoes that I wore today, I'm going to keep them as a memory."
Yankees batting displayed the same burly form they had exhibited in the previous outings of the season. Robinson Cano went 1-for-3 and earned two RBIs and Mark Teixeira made three hits and one run over five at-bats. Curtis Granderson and Russell Martin also
touched two hits each.
Although it had been considered an easy series for the Yankees but the Blue Jays gave a tough time and forced the series to a 1-all tie. Now the New York Yankees had to visit Baltimore Orioles for another three-game series. The club was ambitious to overthrow
the opposition again. Until then the Yankees brilliance was at the highest level and experts had associated the World Series title with the club.
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