UNLIKELY HEROES: Eduardo Nunez strokes a sacrifice fly to give the Yankees a lead in the eighth inning as the Bombers rallied from a 5-1 deficit, a comeback made possible by the strong relief of Derek Lowe (lower left). (Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post)
TORONTO — On the first of August, Derek Lowe was unemployed, Eduardo Nunez was an out-of-favor minor leaguer and the Yankees were still in strong control of the AL East.
On the last of September, Lowe and Nunez were among the heroes of what amounted to pretty much a must-win game for the Yankees. Had they lost, the Yankees would have fallen out of first place for the first time since June 10. How long ago was that? The NBA Finals were two days away from starting.
Now NBA camps are opening and the Yankees are still in control of their own destiny. But only because they won their most important regular-season game since the next-to-last-day of the 2005 season. They won 9-6 for many reasons, including that Toronto stinks and they finally remembered around the seventh inning that getting a clutch hit is not against Canadian law.
As important as anything was five critical, stabilizing outs from Lowe and a go-ahead sacrifice fly from Nunez that helped the Yankees stay tied with Baltimore atop the AL East with three games to play. The Yankees have three at home against the 90-loss, just-swept-by-the-Orioles Red Sox. Baltimore, meanwhile, has to play three at Tampa Bay, and the Rays still have a slim playoff chance for which to shoot.
In other words, things looked a lot more positive for the Yankees than they did at about 3 p.m. yesterday when they trailed Toronto 5-1 and the Orioles led Boston 5-1.
Phil Hughes was doing a piñata re-enactment and a lineup full of experienced Yankees hitters could do nothing against Henderson Alvarez, though the young righty did everything short of calling out the pitches to announce he was throwing near exclusively fastballs. The Yankees needed something to turn momentum.
And that is when Lowe arrived.
When he was released by the Indians on July 31, he had a 5.52 ERA and was right there in the conversation for worst pitcher in baseball. At 39, it was possible to believe the end was upon him, certainly that there would be no more big moments in 2012. But that is why he picked the Yankees out of a few options.
They wanted him in relief rather than as a starter and Lowe knew they would play meaningful games, though when he enlisted on Aug. 13, it was easy to believe those games would not come before October. But now as September was running out, Lowe’s five outs critically bridged the final out of the fifth, an eight-pitch/three-groundball seventh and a groundout to open the eighth. He entered with the Yankees trailing 5-1 and exited at 5-5.
“The only way to save a bad season is to pitch good in September and October,” Lowe said.
He had joked before a postgame interview scrum that it had been so long since he had been a hero that he had to remember how to act with the media, and a few teammates razzed him with points on how to stand and what to say. But Lowe had been there, done that as any Yankee fan who remembers the horrors of the 2004 ALCS sure knows. Lowe has guts, which was particularly needed because he had such a bad stomach virus Saturday that he needed intravenous fluids. But there he was yesterday, a key man.
So even if he has lost some stuff, he has the right stuff to handle these moments. He is unafraid and as opposed to much of the pen has a relatively fresh arm. Joe Girardi, who has not shown big faith in him, must trust him now.
The same goes for Nunez. Girardi trusts him so little in the field that he removed him midway through Saturday’s game, though it meant losing his DH. But Nunez hit the heck out of the ball the past two days, which coincides with the Yankees losing Jayson Nix for at least a week with a hip injury. Nunez gives the older, often-tired-looking Yankees a quick bat and fast set of legs.
He started the Yanks’ four-run seventh with a single and drilled a deep sac fly to provide the lead for good in the eighth. It shows Nunez has some fortitude, as well, after being sent down in May for bad fielding and losing two months at Triple-A with an inflamed thumb.
His glove remains problematic. But his bat is such that Girardi has to figure out how to use him, certainly tomorrow against lefty Jon Lester.
Two months ago, the Yanks didn’t think they would have an AL East race and they didn’t have Lowe or Nunez at all. Well, unfortunately for them, they have the race. Fortunately — at least yesterday — they have Lowe and Nunez.
joel.sherman@nypost.com