Yankees Go Extra Mile for Win
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |  | R | H | E | |
| NY Yankees | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 11 | 2 | |
| Toronto | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 0 |
WP - Pettitte (3-1) LP - Richmond (4-2)
The Yankees were hoping for big things from Brett Gardner this season, especially after the fantastic spring he put together down in Florida. Things have not worked out as planned thus far, with Gardner losing his starting job, but last night the Yankees speedster hit his first major league home run to ignite the Yankees to an 8-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.
The game certainly didn’t start out in promising fashion. The Yankees left the bases loaded in the 1st inning and the Blue Jays scored a run without the aid of a hit off of Andy Pettitte in their half of the inning . But rookie pitcher Scott Richmond wouldn’t escape the 2nd as the Yankees put together a rare big inning.
Melky Cabrera led off the the frame with a double, sparking a conversation between YES announcers Ken Singleton and Al Leiter as to whether Gardner would bunt or hit a grounder to the right side to move Cabrera to third base. Gardner did indeed pull the ball, just inside the foul pole and over the right field fence for his first career home run in 198 big league at-bats.
Ramiro Pena followed with a triple and one batter later, Johnny Damon duplicated Pena’s feat with an RBI triple for a 3-1 Yankees lead. Damon held at third on Nick Swisher’s infield in ground out, but Mark Teixeira drove a ball over center fielder Vernon Wells‘ head for a run scoring double.
Robinson Cano followed an Alex Rodrgiuez walk with a single (giving the Yankees the cycle for the inning) past a diving Kevin Millar at first base for a 5-1 Yankees advantage. Cito Gaston finally showed mercy on his 29-yr old rookie starter and sent for Brian Wolfe who was able to retire Cabrera on his second time around to end the inning.
Pettitte settled down after the 1st, allowing a run in the 4th, but escaped a bases loaded, two out jam by getting Marco Scutaro to fly out.
The Yankees tacked on a run in the fourth on a Teixeira sacrifice fly and added two more in the fifth inning. Cano led off the inning with a double and one batter later, Gardner produced the Yankees third triple of the night for a 7-2 lead. Francisco Cervelli’s infield single scored Gardner with the game’s final run.
Al Aceves took over for Pettite in the 7th, and along with Jonathan Albaladejo, finished off the Yankees win.
Game Notes
Derek Jeter (oblique) and Hideki Matsui (hamstring) both sat out.
7 of the 11 Yankees hits were for extra bases.
Andy Pettitte’s win was the 218th of his career, moving him into a tie for 76th place all time with Bob Caruthers and Earl Whitehill. Kenny Rogers is next at 219 wins.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Johnny Damon has had an extra base hit and a run scored in 9 straight games. That’s the longest streak since the Orioles‘ Brady Anderson had a 9 game streak in 1997. The last Yankee to reach at least 9 games was Don Mattingly, who had a 10 game streak in 1987.
The rubber game of the series is this evening at 7:05 p.m. ET with CC Sabathia going against Brian Tallet.
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