The Yankees did a lot of things wrong this afternoon, but all could be (relatively) forgotten after Marcus Thames singled home Robinson Cano with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning.
The nearly four hour, 7-6 win in 95 degree was necessitated by laughable base running, poor starting pitching, and a blown save. The Yankees caught some breaks too, but A.J. Burnett was able to make just his second pie delivery of the year when the Yankees got the last laugh.
The Blue Jays tied the game up at six against Mariano Rivera, who had converted 24 straight save opportunities against Toronto, in the 9th on singles by Lyle Overbay, John Buck, and Dewayne Wise. Rivera got out of further difficulty by getting Alex Gonzalez to ground out to strand a pair of runners.
Cano drew a lead off walk against left-hander David Purcey to start the 10th and was sacrificed to second base by Francisco Cervelli. Purcey struck out Curtis Granderson, who earned the "golden sombrero", but walked Brett Gardner. Joe Girardi sent Thames, who had been activated from the DL earlier in the day, up to pinch-hit for Ramiro Pena.
Purcey fell behind 3-1 before getting Thames to wave at an off-speed pitch for a second strike. He wasn't so fortunate with the next delivery as Thames dropped a broken bat single in front of Wise in center field to score Cano with the game winner.
The fans certainly had to be holding their breath until Cano touched home plate. Who could blame them? The Yankees had three base runners thrown out at home plate on the day.
Nick Swisher singled off Brandon Morrow to start the 5th and Mark Teixeira followed with a drive to deep center. Swisher rounded second base and held up to be sure the ball was over Wise's head. Third base coach Rob Thomson inexplicably waved Swisher home despite the fact there were no outs. Swisher's former teammate Jose Molina perfectly blocked home plate and applied the tag for the first out of the inning.
Teixeira then tagged up on a shallow fly to center field and was a dead duck as Wise made a perfect throw home for the double play.
It was "Deja vu all over again" in the 7th when Teixeira singled home Jeter, for a 6-5 lead, and Swisher went to third on the play. Cervelli hit a foul pop near the stands in shallow right where Jose Bautista made a nice grab, spun, and fired home to nail Swisher at the plate. The ensuing groan from Yankee Stadium could be heard for miles.
The day started out nicely for Phil Hughes. Named to his first All-Star game, Hughes looked sharp through the first two innings. Then the wheels fell off. Lyle Overbay touched him up for a solo home run in the 3rd to temporarily give the Jays a 1-0 lead.
With the Yankees on top 3-1 in the 5th, Hughes allowed a single and a walk before surrendering a towering, foul pole aided home run to the light hitting Wise. An inning later, Lind took Hughes deep to right-center for his 10th home run and a 5-3 lead.
The Yankees benefited from the strong sun for the second straight day. Left fielder John McDonald had turned A-Rod's potential inning ending fly ball into a 3-run double in Saturday's 11-run, 3rd inning. This time it was Wise being victimized on a Brett Gardner fly.
With Jorge Posada on 1st and two down, Gardner skied to deep center. Wise got under it, shielded his eyes with his glove a bit too late, and watched helplessly as the ball ticked off the end of his glove. Gardner raced around the bases (amazing he didn't catch Posada) and was credited with a gift 2-run inside-the-park home run (one day maybe, just maybe, an official scorer will grow a set) to tie the game 5-5.
David Robertson (1-3) picked up his first win with some help from Edwin Encarnacion. Robertson allowed the first two base runners to reach in the 10th to set up a sacrifice situation. Encarnacion, who had been designated for assignment a few weeks back as a wake up call, bunted the ball in the air and stood there angry at himself. A-Rod allowed the ball to drop and quickly turned a 5-4-3 double play, with Cano's strong relay throwing just nipping Encarnacion at first base. Robertson then struck out Molina with the go ahead run 90 feet away.
Notes
Jorge Posada had to leave the game in the 7th after taking a foul tip off his glove hand. He was diagnosed with a sprained ring finger and is listed as day to day. Ironically, earlier in the game Molina was hit with a similar foul tip but was able to stay in the game.
To make room for Thames on the roster, Chad Huffman was optioned to Triple-A Scranton.
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