Sabathia’s 21st win guides the New York Yankees to the playoff berth (Part 2)
The New York Yankees were playing in their second fixture of the series against the Toronto Blue Jays. The matchup was played in the opposition’s home stadium of the Rogers Centre. With only 5 days in the League’s conclusion,
the match between the two teams was dubbed an important encounter as the stakes on the playoffs floated high in the air. The Yanks were trying for a post season spot and their 5 defeats in the last 6 games was a huge concern for Joe Girardi.
When the match started, it looked like the Yankees would begin their scoring initiative late in the game, given that Carsten Charles Sabathia was pitching for the team. However, that was an ill judged assessment as Derek
Jeter started the top 1st with a single to the centre. Nick Swisher was the next batter in but he succumbed to the Jays’ rookie, Kyle Drabek with a swinging strike out.
The match was starting off with a spicy note and veteran Jeter made his way to the second base in the inning following Kyle’s wild pitch to Mark Teixeira. Teixeira was introduced into the game, late to replicate his last
night’s performance with a home run but he started the night with a single to the right, getting Derek to the third. Alex Rodriguez came into the game and provided the team with an early push as his sacrifice fly to the right got Jeter through the last base
with a run.
The New York team was 1–0 and the Toronto based club were put on the back foot early on as the visitors were flexing their muscles. Derek Jeter was up to the task to lead his team to a win and he did so by starting in the
top 3rd. He was walked to the first base and he moved to the second bag when Drabek delivered a wild pitch to Swisher. Nick went out eventually when he pushed Jeter to the third with a sacrifice hit to the pitcher. Derek finally scored his 2nd of
the match when Mark Teixeira hit a sacrifice fly to the centre. The run brought the Yankees to a 2 point cushion and they rested easy as the inning ended and the Jays came on to bat.
The bottom 3rd was ending comfortably for Sabathia but the blue birds didn’t go down easy as Travis Snider splinted a 387 feet homer to the right. The hit got the Jays to a decent response of 1 run
on the board and opened up the game for both teams. Toronto wasn’t able to continue their scoring trend in the following innings and the Yankees pressed on with Brett Gardner. The strong hitter started off the top 5th with a triple
to the deep centre. He later made it home with the 3rd run when Jeter grounded into the fielder’s choice to third.
The Jays remained quite throughout the night and the Yanks kept on pushing on. Jeter started the top 8th with a single to the left. Swisher did the same and moved up to the first base. Greg Golson
replaced Nick and Mark Teixeira came on to walk to the first. Alex Rodriguez was next and when he was walked to the first, Jeter scored his third run of the night. The inning did not end there as Robinson Cano came in to hit a sacrifice fly to the left, getting
Golson through for the 5th run.
The score line read 5 (New York) – 1 (Toronto) and the game moved into the top 9th. With hope lost on the Blue Jays, their demise came with Edward Nunez who ended the hopes of the opposition with a run to the last
base, off Golson’s grounder out on third. The Yankees led the score board with a tally of 6 – 1 and that ended the fixture in their favour.
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