10 INNINGS: Yankees 6 – Blue Jays 5
TORONTO – It’s that time of year again. You know, the short-lived part of the season when Mariano Rivera shows signs of being human.
If Saturday in Boston was the spring of Rivera’s mortality, last night at SkyDome was summer. And remember, fall and winter should be coming quickly. Then, as he did last year, Rivera will return to being the most dominant reliever in baseball.
Rivera, who blew a save and absorbed a loss to the Red Sox at Fenway, entered last night’s game against the Blue Jays in the bottom of the ninth with a two-run edge and watched Chris Gomez stroke a two-run, two-out single to center that tied the score and denied Javier Vazquez a victory.
But Tony Clark hit a two-out double to left-center that glanced off Vernon Wells’ glove and scored Jorge Posada from third in the top of the 10th to give the Yankees a 6-5, 10-inning victory that was witnessed by 30,041. Clark, who doubled twice, fanned three times in five at-bats, including the first two of the game to stretch his streak to six at-bats striking out.
The victory stopped a two-game Yankees losing streak and enabled them to stay 7 ½ games ahead of the Red Sox in the AL East.
Carlos Delgado opened the ninth with a single to center and went to third when Gregg Zaun slapped a double inside the third base bag. Rivera stiffened to fan Eric Hinske and get Alex Rios on a ground out. Rivera fell behind Gomez, 3-1, before the No. 8 hitter singled to center to drive in two and tie the score, 5-5.
Gomez took second on the throw home, but was stranded there when Staten Island’s Frank Menechino fanned looking at a 3-2 pitch.
It was Rivera’s third blown save in 38 chances and second in as many games. Thanks to the 10th-inning rally, however, Rivera posted the victory and improved to 2-1.
None of Joe Torre’s three starters was able to pitch six innings in the three games in Boston; one was done after three. So, Torre’s bullpen didn’t want to hear the phone ring last night until the late innings.
For six innings, it appeared bullpen coach Rich Monteleone wasn’t going to pick up the receiver until it was time for Rivera in the ninth because Vazquez was in charge. However, Zaun’s solo homer in the seventh reduced the Yankees’ advantage to a run, at 4-3, and Mel Stottlemyre phoned the pen to get workhorse Paul Quantrill up.
Zaun’s homer was the second served up by Vazquez, who has given up 23 this season, tied for the second most in the AL. Delgado took him over the wall in right in the fourth.
When Vazquez (three runs on five hits in 6 1/3 innings) walked Hinske following Zaun’s third homer, Torre summoned Quantrill. The right-hander gave up an infield single to Rios, and even tweaked his right knee covering first base. After trainer Gene Monahan and Torre visited Quantrill on the mound, he stayed in and was forced to run hard to first on Gomez’ grounder to Clark at first. As Quantrill labored getting to the bag, Clark opted to slide into first to get the second out.
Torre had seen enough of Quantrill and called for Tom Gordon with runners on second and third and two outs. Gordon, who was held out of Saturday’s game and wasn’t needed Sunday at Fenway, fanned Orlando Hudson to choke the rally and keep the Yankees ahead by a run.
Posada’s first-inning grand slam (his 12th homer) off Sean Douglass provided a quick 4-0 bulge, but the Yankees didn’t score again until the ninth on Gary Sheffield’s two-out single off Vinnie Chulk with first base open.
The Yankees would have scored more in the ninth if not for second baseman Hudson turning Derek Jeter’s smash up the middle into a 4-3 double play after Miguel Cairo and Kenny Lofton started the inning with infield singles.