TORONTO — The best way to describe it is that last night, Hiroki Kuroda pitched like a 2012 Oriole: He got lucky, and he won.
OK, we’re not being entirely fair to Buck Showalter’s crew in Baltimore, which has accomplished so much this season and which triumphed yet again last night to keep this American League East race ultra-exciting. On the other hand, we’re being quite fair to Kuroda, who — in getting the victory in the Yankees’ 11-4 thumping of the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre — reminded us how much good fortune can factor into a ballgame.
As Showalter himself said last month, “The baseball gods can be cruel, and they can be kind.”
If you were hoping for signs Kuroda has shaken off his September funk, then you had best look only at the “W” and not peek under the hood of this sucker. With the veteran right-hander set to start the Yankees’ regular-season finale Oct. 3 against the Red Sox, you probably hope the stakes aren’t too high in that contest.
“I don’t think any of my pitches today were really crisp,” Kuroda said through his interpreter, Kenji Nimura. “I was trying to pound the zone, but I really couldn’t.”
Now, let’s take stock of the Yankees’ bigger picture. Their win, which featured clutch, two-out hits from Nick Swisher (a two-run double in the first) and Russell Martin (a three-run homer in the sixth), lowered the Yankees’ magic numbers to two (to clinch a playoff spot) and five (to secure the AL East). Because the Orioles pounded the Red Sox, 9-1 at Camden Yards, the Yankees maintained their one-game divisional advantage.
In all, the Yankees knocked around Blue Jays pitchers for 13 hits and drew six walks, as well as a hit batter.
Which means the Yankees recorded just three more hits in nine innings than the Blue Jays did in 5 1/3 innings against Kuroda. The 37-year-old gave up 10 hits during his work shift, and an amazing six of those went for extra bases.
Enter those baseball gods. Or, if you prefer, just call it Blue Jays incompetence.
After Brett Lawrie started the bottom of the first with a double, Colby Rasmus hit a bullet at first baseman Swisher — who threw to Derek Jeter at second to catch Lawrie too far off the bag.
When Yunel Escobar led off the bottom of the second with a double and advanced to third on a Kuroda wild pitch, the Yankees proceeded to execute a quite unusual double play. As Kelly Johnson swung through a third strike and Martin fired the ball to third, where Alex Rodriguez tagged out Escobar diving back into the base.
“I got a lot of support from the defense,” Kuroda said, “and obviously the offense, too.”
The righty didn’t dance with danger as much after that, which allowed manager Joe Girardi to say, “When you don’t have your best stuff and win some games, that says a lot about you.”
Kuroda (15-11, 3.34 ERA) now has pitched a career-high 212 2/3 innings on the season, topping last year’s previous high of 202. That explains why Kuroda and Yankees pitching coach Larry Rothschild decided to skip Kuroda’s between-starts bullpen outing. It didn’t seem to help much, but they might as well skip it again this time.
“I’m not 100 percent,” Kuroda said cryptically. “But whatever I have, I like to give 100 percent.” That prompted follow-up queries as to what exactly he meant by not being 100 percent.
It was “something mechanical,” said Kuroda, who added, “I don’t know if it’s tied to physical, but what I can do is just prepare for the next start. That’s what I’m going to do.”
Yeesh. That isn’t exactly a declaration of robust health, though Kuroda did assert, “I feel fine.”
For sure, you don’t rule out Kuroda finding that second wind and helping the Yankees considerably in his first pinstriped postseason. For now, however? You credit Kuroda with a win last night and nothing else.