Mo Strikes Back

Mariano Rivera struck out Alex Rios, Vernon Wells, and Frank Thomas in the 9th inning today to preserve the Yankees 5-4 win over the Toronto Blue Jays today. Aaron Hill's solo home run off of Luis Vizcaino in the 8th cut the lead to one, but Mo easily converted his 18th consecutive save opportunity.

The Blue Jays had taken a 2-1 lead in the 3rd off of an up and down Andy Pettitte. A one-out walk to Reed Johnson and a single by Rios started the rally for the Jays. Pettitte got Wells to fly out, but Thomas drilled a shot to deep left that eluded a leaping Johnny Damon for a 2-run double. With a chance for more damage, Pettitte struck out Troy Glaus to end the inning.

The Yankees had an opportunity to tie it in the 5th when Melky Cabrera and Johnny Damon stroked 2-out singles, but Jesse Litsch retired Derek Jeter on a ground out to end the threat. But in the bottom of the inning, the Blue Jays took advantage of the Yankees trouble holding runners. John McDonald lead off with a double and Johnson walked. The two immediately pulled off a double steal, with McDonald beating the throw to 3rd.

Pettitte struck out Rios, but Wells' lined a pitch off of A-Rod's glove for an infield single and a 3-1 lead. Pettitte hung tough though, and struck out Thomas and Glaus to end the inning. It would turn out to be huge.

Bobby Abreu lead off the 6th with a walk and Alex Rodriguez singled to left. John Gibbons quickly pulled Litsch in favor of left-hander Scott Downs (1-2). Hideki Matsui doesn't really care who he faces these days and it didn't matter today either. Godzilla singled to left to cut the margin to 3-2. Jorge Posada struck out, but Robinson Cano, the hottest hitter in baseball, doubled in the gap in right-center to score both runners and give the Yankees a 4-3 lead. Two batters later, Cabrera picked up his 3rd hit of the day, an RBI single for a big insurance run.

Pettitte (8-7) ran into trouble again in the 6th. Rookie catcher Curtis Thigpen singled with 1-out and easily stole 2nd. A 2-out walk to McDonald ended Pettitte's day as Joe Torre went to newly called up Jim Brower. Johnson hit a bullet, but right at A-Rod to end the inning.

When Brower allowed a line drive lead off single to Rios to start the 7th, Torre immediately went to Vizcaino, who worked a stressful 2 innings.

The Yankees had taken a 1-0 lead in the 3rd when Cabrera tripled and came home on a Damon ground out.

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Melky Cabrera now has a 12 game hitting streak. He had a 10 game streak in July.

Andy Pettitte's victory was the 194th of his career. It was his 157th as a Yankee.