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In Progress: Blue Jays, Yankees Take Matters To The 13th Inning
Toronto, ON (Sports Network) - Aaron Hill lined a base hit to the left-field gap to score Edwin Encarnacion with the game-winning run, as Toronto won a 14- inning pitching duel, 3-2, against the Yankees.
Chad Gaudin (0-3), New York's fifth reliever of the game, walked Encarnacion on four pitches to open the 14th. Fred Lewis moved the runner into scoring position with a well-placed sacrifice bunt, and Hill laced an 0-2 offering to left, scoring the winning run without a play at the plate.
Vernon Wells and Alex Gonzalez each had a solo home run for the Blue Jays, who have taken the first two tests of the three-game American League East set.
Derek Jeter had two hits and a two-run homer for New York, which had won five straight coming into the series.
Blue Jays starter Ricky Romero and his counterpart, Andy Pettitte, finished with similar lines in no-decisions. The left-handers each gave up two runs on five hits, though Romero struck out seven with four free passes in eight terrific frames, while Pettitte fanned 10 to go with three walks in 7 2/3 solid innings.
Both bullpens were equally stingy, as no baserunner in extra innings reached second base with less than two outs until the bottom of the 14th.
Casey Janssen (4-0) anchored Toronto's relief effort with two scoreless innings to get the win in the four-hour, nine-minute affair.
Kevin Russo grounded out to leave the bases full in the away second, and Wells opened the bottom half with his 14th homer of the season for the early lead.
Pettitte survived a leadoff double by Encarnacion in the third thanks to Nick Swisher’s leaping grab at the wall on a fly ball hit by Lewis.
The Yankees took the lead in the fifth when Jeter launched a two-run shot over the wall in right. Brett Gardner led off the frame with a double.
Jeter came up in the seventh with a chance to pad the lead, but with runners on second and third, the majors’ active hits leader lined into an inning- ending double play.
The missed opportunity proved costly in the Toronto seventh, as Gonzalez lofted a Pettitte cutter just over the left-field wall to tie things.
The Jays had not won a series of three games or more against the Yankees since August 29-31, 2008...Wells went 2-for-5 and extended his hitting streak to 13 games...Pettitte, who owns a career 15-5 mark at Rogers Centre, has given up two runs or less in nine of his 11 starts this season. His next win will be his 200th as a member of the Yankees...New York first baseman Mark Teixeira went 0-for-6 with a career-high tying five strikeouts...New York's 3-6 hitters combined to go 2-for-24 at the plate...Toronto's Lyle Overbay had three hits, while Encarnacion had two hits and two walks in the win...In the series finale on Sunday, the Yankees will send Javier Vazquez to the mound opposite Toronto's Brandon Morrow.
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