Yankees fail to capture lead in AL East race
The New York Yankees had a golden opportunity to take the lead in a tight American League East race, but squandered it with a 6-3 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. With the Tampa Bay Rays losing on Wednesday afternoon to the Los Angeles Angels, the Yankees might have overlooked a worthy opponent in Toronto, and their hopes to sit atop their division will have to wait.
Toronto came out the gates swinging, scoring two runs in the first inning. The Jays added another two runs in the third frame after Vernon Wells launched a two-run home run off Phil Hughes, to push Toronto to a 4-0 lead.
"They hit home runs," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "You've got to make pitches on them. It's like a lot of American League lineups -- if you don't make pitches, they can hurt you."
Marcus Thames put New York on the board in the fourth with a two-run homer to left-centre field to narrow the lead to two. But with the bases loaded in the bottom of the fourth inning, Wells continued the barrage and drove home another run with a single.
Hughes yielded five runs on six hits and received a visit from Girardi, and was pulled in the fourth inning. Hughes was disappointed with his sloppy performance and was his toughest critic. "It can't happen, especially when we're trying to win a series here," said Hughes, who tied a season high with five walks. "My pitch count was out of control and I wasn't able to get that big strike when I needed it. It seemed like I was just missing, and that was kind of the theme of the night."
New York’s comeback efforts were cut short as the Yankees only managed to tack on one run in the ninth. Wells had himself a great night, coming up a double, shy of hitting for the cycle. His memorable performance, combined with the solid pitching from Toronto’s ace, were simply too much for the Yankees and put the game out of reach.
The Jays’ starting pitcher Brett Cecil, who is now 7-1 with a 2.14 ERA against AL East teams this season, turned in eight solid innings. "He's probably pitched as well as anybody on this club all year," Gaston said. "I keep thinking and saying that I think this kid, he belongs here. He feels like he belongs here and he's got some confidence going."
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