TORONTO — Yankees manager Joe Girardi won’t stop campaigning for the new blocking of the plate rule by a catcher to be changed.
Friday night, he believed Blue Jays catcher Dioner Navarro was sealing the dish before he caught the ball as Jacoby Ellsbury attempted to score on a Derek Jeter ground ball in the top of the ninth.
A rule introduced this year forbids catchers from blocking the plate unless they have the ball. Replays clearly showed Navarro’s leg blocking the plate before the ball arrived.
“When a guy is running in a straight line and a guy’s foot is on the line that is blocking the plate,’’ Girardi said. “The rule is to protect the catcher and I am all for it, but in that situation he has no place to slide. From Day 1 in spring training, I think that’s a part of the rule they have to clean up.’’
The play resulted in a double blow to the Yankees. Ellsbury was originally called safe, but an umpires’ request to have it looked at ended in a reversed call. And Ellsbury suffered a left ankle injury sliding and was limping after the 6-3 Yankees victory.
Nothing Brett Gardner did in his first two at-bats against Mark Buehrle indicated he was ready to unload an RBI double to deep right in the five-run seventh. Gardner was in a 7-for-51 (.137) slide when he delivered the hit that tied the score, 1-1.
“I didn’t feel a lot different,’’ said Gardner, who missed three games this week with an ankle injury. “I keep working with K-Long [hitting coach Kevin Long] and try to be consistent again” Gardner said. “It was a big hit in a big situation and it felt good. I have been watching everybody else contribute.’’
Buehrle was the third straight lefty starter the Yankees faced. Against the previous two — David Price and Kyle Lobstein — Girardi used Gardner in the eighth spot after he missed three games with a bruised right ankle.
Friday night, Girardi elevated Gardner to seventh and started lefty swingers Ichiro Suzuki in right field and Stephen Drew at second base. Ichiro hit eighth; Drew ninth.
Girardi’s decision to use Suzuki and Drew stemmed from their numbers against Buehrle. Ichiro was hitting .431 (25-for-58) and Drew was at.429 (6-for-14) against Buehrle, who began the night with a 1-12 career record against the Yankees and had lost the last 10 decisions.
Ichiro went 1-for-3 against Buehrle and Drew was 1-for-2.
Asked if he would leave Gardner, who has hit leadoff 99 times this year, lower in the order, Girardi said, “I am going day by day. A lot of times it depends on who I have.’’
Girardi gave third baseman Chase Headley off and used Martin Prado at third, but Headley entered the game late and homered.
Lefty reliever Josh Outman pitched to one batter in the eighth inning and allowed a hit in his Yankees debut.
The Yankees are 22-10 against the Blue Jays since the start of 2013. … Prado had two hits and has at least one hit in 11 of the last 13 games.
According to Girardi, right-hander David Phelps is progressing from a right elbow problem that has had him on the disabled list since Aug. 4.
“He is playing catch, I am not sure what day he will do a bullpen,’’ Girardi said of Phelps, who was in the rotation when injured, but will be a reliever if he returns from the DL.
The Blue Jays will honor Derek Jeter on Sunday before his final game at Rogers Centre. Jeter needs one more double to pass Al Simmons for 34th place on the all-time list with 540.
Carlos Beltran, who went 0-for-2, is attempting to become the 12th player in history with 1,000 hits in the AL and NL. He has 998 hits in the AL and 1,329 in the NL.