Yankees hit five homers in win over Blue Jays
The Yankees gave the Toronto Blue Jays, which lead the majors in home runs, a taste of their own medicine on Tuesday night as New York drilled five homers against the Jays to cruise to an 11-5 victory at Rogers Centre.
"That was a true team effort tonight," said Mark Teixeira, who homered in the third inning and enjoyed a four-hit performance. "We were aggressive, and we were swinging at good pitches. They came after us, and we just swung the bats really well tonight."
The Yankees came out swinging since the opening pitch and scored a run in the first two innings to build a 2-0 lead heading into the third frame. That’s when things went from bad to worse for the Jays. New York ripped three third-inning homers off Toronto starter Marc Rzepczynski for a commanding 6-0 lead that would never be in jeopardy, as the defending champs improved their record to 78-48.
Teixeira started the barrage with a solo shot, then Marcus Thames’ two-run shot and Jorge Posada’s solo blast ended the inning. “We have power in our lineup, and we got production from a lot of people tonight," manager Joe Girardi said. "It's good. You want to try to spread the offence out, and we did it tonight."
Teixeira and Posada both went 4 for 5 with two RBIs. The defending World Series champions added four more runs in the fifth inning, including a homer by Derek Jeter, his first homer since July 22.
“It's not easy to do," Posada said. "We came swinging today and got a lot of good pitches to hit, and we didn't miss them. It was one of those days."
Brian Tallet was called into duty in the fourth inning after a lousy start for Rzepczynski, but he could not stop New York's offensive attack. "There's no doubt about it, I haven't been myself," Tallet said of his showing this season. "I haven't really been able to help the team out a lot, and that's pretty disappointing, as far as I'm concerned."
Tallet surrendered 5 runs, two of them homers, and six hits. Tallet was disappointed with his performance and about having given up a couple of homers. “The biggest thing for me has been giving up the homer. God, I’ve given up a lot and it’s pretty frustrating.”
Toronto’s comeback efforts were cut short as the Jays only managed to score three late runs in the seventh inning and went scoreless the rest of the way.
The loss puts the Jays 12.5 games behind the Yankees in the AL East.
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