David Phelps went past the century mark in pitches Thursday night when he hurled the Yankees to a sweep of the slumping AL East-leading Blue Jays.
Nevertheless, according to manager Joe Girardi and Phelps, the best throw the pitcher made in seven innings went in the opposite direction of the plate.
In the first inning, with Melky Cabrera on second, Jose Bautista on first, one out and a full count to Edwin Encarnacion, Phelps wheeled toward second and found Brian Roberts near the bag and Cabrera scrambling to get there. His throw short-hopped Roberts, who dug it out of the dirt and tagged Cabrera.
Somehow second-base umpire Jordan Baker called Cabrera safe. Girardi’s challenge overturned Baker’s call, and Phelps responded by catching Encarnacion looking for the final out.
“It was the play of the game,’’ Phelps said. “They had the best hitter in baseball at the plate and a 3-2 count. I thought they might be trying to stay out of a double play and it was a good time to try it.’’
According to Girardi, nothing else that happened in the Yankees’ third straight victory and seventh in nine games carried more weight.
“That’s the biggest play of the game,’’ Girardi said.
Roberts pointed to Phelps’ baseball IQ.
“It was smart on his part to do an inside move there. Doesn’t work all that often, but we got fortunate and that time it did,’’ Roberts said. “Tip your hat to David for thinking about the game. A lot of pitchers get caught up in the moment [and] don’t think about what’s going on.’’
By sweeping the Blue Jays, the Yankees moved to 1½ games of the AL East leaders and pulled even in the loss column. On top of dropping three straight to the Yankees, the Blue Jays have lost 16 straight games in The Bronx and 25 of the last 26 games at Yankee Stadium.
“It’s huge to sweep any series,’’ said Phelps, whose second straight strong outing improved his record to 3-4.
Phelps said he knew Girardi wasn’t going to use Dellin Betances and David Robertson for a third straight night and that he wanted to stay away from an extended work load on Adam Warren, who three two innings Wednesday.
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“I thought I would get a little longer leash,’’ said Phelps, whose seven innings tied a season high.
Phelps, who gave up two runs and six hits, surrendered a two-run homer to Cabrera in the third that tied the score, 2-2. The Yankees, who scored solo runs in the first and second, answered with the go-ahead run on Carlos Beltran’s sacrifice fly in the third. Beltran added an RBI double in the fifth and Derek Jeter (2-for-5) drove in a run with a ground out in the sixth. Yangervis Solarte, who replaced Kelly Johnson (bruised fingers on left hand) walked with the bases loaded in the eighth.
Shawn Kelley replaced Phelps and gave up a two-run homer to Encarnacion. Matt Thornton got the final out in the eighth and the first of the ninth before Warren entered and recorded the final two outs.
“I wasn’t sure I was going to be the closer,’’ said Warren, who retired Jose Reyes for the final out on a routine grounder to the right side with Colby Rasmus on second. “I told them I could throw one inning. As the game went on, I planned for that.’’
So a 15-game stretch against AL East foes has started 3-0 because Masahiro Tanaka, Chase Whitley and Phelps pitched well. How it ends nobody knows, but without Phelps’ peg to second it might not have opened 3-for-3.