Yankees Playoff Hopes Dwindle with Loss Against Blue Jays

nytimes.com

By Nick Ziegler (@Ziggy26x)

September 19^th, 2013

New York Yankees vs Toronto Blue Jays Post Game Recap

Final Score: Yankees 2 Blue Jays 6

The New York Yankees season may have very well ended in the the great white North against the Toronto Blue Jays, as they loss the series to the last place Blue Jays. The loss moves the Yankees to (80-73) on the season, which is 3.5 games behind the Texas Rangers and Tampa Bay Rays for the final two Wild Card spots.

Yankees Starter Hiroki Kuroda was in trouble all night long, but despite clearly not being on his game again he manged to keep the Yankees close. In the third inning the Blue Jays would finally get to Kuroda, as Jose Reyes hit a RBI double to score Anthony Gose, and then Reyes would score on a RBI ground out by Brett Lawrie. Gose would touch home plate again in the sixth inning, as he hit a solo-home run, which was his second of the season. Kuroda would finish going six innings allowing three runs on eight hits, and four walks, while striking out seven batters.

In the seventh inning with the Yankees down two runs Joe Girardi turned to Joba Chamberlain in a close game, and Chamberlain let his team down. A walk and a base-hit brought Adam Lind to the plate, and he smacked a three-run home run off Chamberlain essentially winning the game at the time, and probably ending the Yankees playoff hopes.

Blue Jays Starter Todd Redmond shutdown the Yankees offense in this game, and earned his fourth win of the season. Curtis Granderson was the only Yankee to see success off of Redmond in the sixth inning, as he hit a solo-home run, which was his seventh of the season. Redmond went seven innings allowing just the one run on four hits, one walk, and had seven strikeouts.

In the ninth inning with the bases loaded and a slim shot of a comeback Vernon Wells had a RBI ground out to score Alex Rodriguez for the Yankees second run of the game. Casey Janssen would get Lyle Overbay to ground out to end the game and earn his 32^nd save of the season.

Next up for the Yankees will be a home series against the San Francisco Giants, as C.C. Sabathia (13-13, 4.90) will be facing off against Tim Lincecum (10-13, 4.40) on Friday night.