TORONTO — The Yankees fell just short of a major comeback yesterday, and “just short” could be measured by the length of Rajai Davis’ glove.
Down 10-1 after five innings, the Yankees had cut the lead to 10-4 when Curtis Granderson led off the seventh inning with a single. Third baseman Casey McGehee came to the plate and lifted a fly ball that seemed destined to be a home run, but left fielder Davis leapt at the wall and was able to reach just far enough to bring the ball back into the park.
Rather than a two-run homer, McGehee was left with a long out and no regrets.
“That was a heck of a catch,” McGehee said. “It was really not anything to be frustrated about other than the fact that it happened. I was happy with the swing I took, happy with everything. Sometimes you just have to tip your hat.
“I thought it was going to be right in front of the wall or barely over. When [Davis] turned his back I thought he had given up on it, but little did I know he was just lining it up.”
Had Davis not made his highlight-reel grab, the score would have been cut to 10-6 with no outs in the seventh. Granderson went on to score anyway, so McGehee’s extra run (or, perhaps importantly, the subtracted out) might well have made a huge difference. The Yankees scored three times in the inning and left the bases loaded for Andruw Jones, who grounded into a fielder’s choice for the final out.
“I don’t know if it changes the game, you never know what’s going to happen,” said Yankees manager Joe Girardi. “It’s a huge catch. It’s an unbelievable catch. [Davis] hurt us today, both offensively and defensively.”
Davis collected two doubles and five RBIs to help the Blue Jays build their lead, a surprising offensive outburst given that Davis and Edwin Encarnacion were the only regulars present for the injury-plagued Jays.
The Yankees eventually got to Jays starter J.A. Happ for four runs but were stifled by the left-hander early, sending the minimum 12 batters to the plate over the first four innings.
“[Happ] threw the ball well. We hadn’t faced him in a while, maybe since spring training,” said Derek Jeter. “He comes after you with fastballs, he mixes it up, uses his location. We got a couple off him but he pitched extremely well.”
McGehee opened the scoring for the Yankees in the fifth, knocking in Jones with an RBI double. Jeter and Robinson Cano both homered in the sixth to generate three more runs, setting the stage for the seventh inning. Jayson Nix, Jeter and Nick Swisher all delivered two-out RBI hits to plate three more runs for the Yankees, though that was all they managed in the eventual 10-7 loss.
“We battled back,” Jeter said. “We kept swinging but just fell a little short there.”
Had the Yankees kept their rally going and won, it would’ve matched their largest comeback of the season. The Yankees were down 9-0 against the Red Sox on April 21 before roaring back for 15 unanswered runs and a 15-9 victory. That game was the only time this season that the Yankees have come back from a deficit of greater than five runs.