TORONTO — Back at the start of May, when the Toronto Blue Jays lost two of three at home to the New York Yankees and then twice more during a quickie visit to the Bronx, they could point to an out-of-sync batting order and reasonably think that things will be different next time.
Well, they didn’t deliver the type of dramatic counterpunch they might have envisioned then, but did show an important and fortifying resilience in rallying from five runs down Sunday for a tension-filled 10-9 victory that averted a three-game sweep.
The Blue Jays offence had come around since the clashes last month but was mostly AWOL during a weekend of frustration, managing only three runs on 10 hits in the first two games before busting out in the finale. Yusei Kikuchi left behind a 3-2 deficit, Adam Cimber and Max Castillo, in his big-league debut, let it get to 8-3 and a deflating end loomed.
But Luis Severino, dominant through five, came out of the game after a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. single and Alejandro Kirk walk to open the sixth. The Blue Jays loaded the bases against Miguel Castro and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. made it a one-run game with his fifth career grand slam.
After Yimi Garcia put up a zero in the seventh — jawing with Gleyber Torres after getting him swinging to end the frame — Bo Bichette beat out an infield single, and after a Guerrero fielder’s choice and Kirk walk, Teoscar Hernandez timed up a Peralta changeup and sent it out to left-centre field, triggering bedlam among the crowd of 44,395.
“Against the Yankees everything is going to be like that,” Hernandez said of the emotions that had him pounding his chest all the way up the first-base line. “Everybody knows the team that they have and the run that they’re in right now. They’re a pretty good team. That’s why they’re in the first place. And we know if we play good against them and beat them, we’re in a good spot.”
The drama didn’t end there as pinch-hitter Anthony Rizzo homered off Tim Mayza with one out in the eighth, and the next two Yankees reached, too, prompting manager Charlie Montoyo to bring in closer Jordan Romano into the eighth for the first time this season.
Romano promptly got DJ LeMahieu to fly out before blowing away Aaron Judge with a 98 mph fastball atop the zone to end the eighth, and then worked around a walk and a single to shut the door in an anxious ninth.
“The biggest thing for me is in-between innings,” said Romano. “Come in, pretty big spot there, get the two outs and always remind myself, the job’s not finished. Like I was saying to myself, ‘You haven’t done anything yet,’ you know what I mean? The sit-down, mentally is a little bit hard. You’ve got to remind yourself you’re going back out there.”
Romano’s usage underlined the desperate nature of this game for the Blue Jays, who ended a nine-game win streak for the juggernaut Yankees, who at 49-17, are off to the fourth-best start through 66 games in major-league history.
The Blue Jays, who at 38-28 own the third-best record in the American League, improved to 4-8 against the Yankees and that mark is a key reason why they’re just 17-20 against teams .500 or better.
The Yankees, on the other hand, are 20-8 versus teams .500 or better. They’re now 36-3 when leading after six innings, highlighting how unlikely a loss this was.
“They have good pitching and that’s a fact, but then we took care of the bullpen today,” said Montoyo. “You’ve got to give them credit, that’s one of the reasons they’re doing well, because they have a good starting rotation. But we didn’t quit today. We were down and kept fighting back. I’ve seen it so many times that people say, ‘OK. They’re having a good series. Let’s move on.’ We didn’t move on. Credit to everybody.”
That, in part, explains why there was plenty of emotion on display well before Garcia and Torres got into it. In the first, Josh Donaldson whipped his bat into the ground after getting hit by Kikuchi and later flipped his bat on a two-run homer in the third. Hernandez, in turn, wore a ferocious look as he beat his chest as the ball sailed over the wall.
Garcia’s stop in the seventh was pivotal, almost drawing a line in the sand against the Yankees after the Blue Jays had crept within one, which prompted the right-hander’s stare-down of Torres.
“That’s part of the game,” Garcia said through interpreter Hector Lebron, adding the two didn’t have any past history. “In those situations, your adrenaline is high so you see emotions. … When you face a team like that, the way the Yankees are playing right now, that’s our mentality, come into the game and trying to stop it, somehow.”
Kirk, meanwhile, was particularly cautious behind the plate with men on base, setting up his glove in one spot but quickly moving it elsewhere in case signs were being relayed. He also did Kikuchi a pair of solids by picking Donaldson off at first to end the first and throwing out Aaron Hicks trying to steal to end the second, while blocking skillfully in the ninth when Giancarlo Stanton reached third on Hicks’ two-out single.
As Matt Chapman eased off the shift and scrambled back toward third to ensure Rizzo didn’t try to drop one down the line, Romano made sure to carefully guard every move.
“Definitely,” he said. “These guys are pretty big at second base. They’re always looking, they’re always trying to pick signs, and credit to them, that’s part of the game. They’re pretty good at it so we’re always coming up with our plans on how to combat that.”
The same applies to the Yankees as a whole after a weekend in which the Blue Jays didn’t claw back any lost ground, but showed the fortitude necessary for a better outcome in August, when the clubs next meet.
NEW YORK – Toronto Blue Jays reliever Chad Green and Canadian slugger Tyler O’Neill of the Boston Red Sox were named finalists for the Major League Baseball Players’ Association’s American League comeback player award on Monday.
Chicago White Sox left-hander Garrett Crochet was the other nominee.
New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge, Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani and Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. were named player of the year finalists.
The award winners, selected via player voting, will be named Saturday before Game 2 of the World Series.
Green, who missed most of the 2022 and ’23 seasons after undergoing Tommy John surgery, was a high-leverage option for the Blue Jays this past season and filled in at closer over the second half of the campaign.
The right-hander converted his first 16 save opportunities and finished the year with a 4-6 record, 17 saves and a 3.21 earned-run average over 53 appearances.
O’Neill, a native of Burnaby, B.C., also endured back-to-back injury-plagued seasons in ’22 and ’23.
After being traded to the Red Sox in the off-season, O’Neill set an MLB record by hitting a homer in his fifth straight Opening Day. He finished with 31 homers on the year and had an OPS of .847.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
NEW YORK – Florida Panthers centre Sam Reinhart was named NHL first star of the week on Monday after leading all players with nine points over four games last week.
Reinhart had four goals, five assists and a plus-seven rating to help the Stanley Cup champions post a 3-0-1 record on the week and move into first place in the Atlantic Division.
New York Rangers left-winger Artemi Panarin took the second star and Minnesota Wild goaltenderFilip Gustavsson was the third star.
Panarin had eight points (4-4) over three games.
Gustavsson became the 15th goalie in NHL history to score a goal and had a 1.00 goals-against average and .962 save percentage over a pair of victories.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Deshaun Watson won’t finish the season as Cleveland’s starting quarterback for the second straight year.
He’s injured again, and the Browns have new problems.
Watson ruptured his right Achilles tendon in the first half of Sunday’s loss to Cincinnati, collapsing as he began to run and leading some Browns fans to cheer while the divisive QB laid on the ground writhing in pain.
The team feared Watson’s year was over and tests done Monday confirmed the rupture. The Browns said Watson will have surgery and miss the rest of the season but “a full recovery is expected.”
It’s the second significant injury in two seasons for Watson, who broke the glenoid (socket) bone in his throwing shoulder last year after just six starts.
The 29-year-old went down Sunday without being touched on a draw play late in the first half. His right leg buckled and Watson crumpled to the turf. TV replays showed his calf rippling, consistent with an Achilles injury.
He immediately put his hands on his helmet, clearly aware of the severity of an injury similar to the one Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers sustained last year.
As he was being assisted by the team’s medical staff and backup Dorian Thompson-Robinson grabbed a ball to begin warming up, there was some derisive cheers and boos from the stands in Huntington Bank Field.
Cleveland fans have been split over Watson, who has been accused of being sexually inappropriate with women.
The reaction didn’t sit well with several Watson’s teammates, including star end Myles Garrett, the NFL’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year, who was appalled by the fans’ behavior.
“We should be ashamed of ourselves as Browns and as fans to boo anyone and their downfall. To be season-altering, career-altering injury,” Garrett said. “Man’s not perfect. He doesn’t need to be. None of us are expected to be perfect. Can’t judge him for what he does off the field or on the field because I can’t throw stones for my glass house.
“Ultimately everyone’s human and they’re disappointed just like we are, but we have to be better than that as people. There’s levels to this. At the end of the day, it’s just a game and you don’t boo anybody being injured and you don’t celebrate anyone’s downfall.”
Backup quarterback Jameis Winston also admonished the uncomfortable celebration.
“I am very upset with the reaction to a man that has had the world against him for the past four years, and he put his body and life on the line for this city every single day,” he said. “The way I was raised, I will never pull on a man when he’s down, but I will be the person to lift him up.
“I know you love this game. When I first got here, I knew these were some amazing fans, but Deshaun was treated badly and now he has to overcome another obstacle. So I’m going to support him, I’m going to lift him up and I’m going to be there for him.”
The injury is yet another twist in Watson’s tumultuous time with the Browns.
Cleveland traded three first-round draft picks and five overall to Houston in 2022 to get him, with owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam approving the team giving Watson a fully guaranteed, five-year $230 million contract.
With a solid roster, the Browns were desperate to find a QB who could help them compete against the top AFC teams.
The Browns had moved on from Baker Mayfield despite drafting him No. 1 overall in 2018 and making the playoffs two seasons later.
But Watson has not played up to expectations — fans have been pushing for him to be benched this season — and Cleveland’s move to get him has been labeled an abject failure with the team still on the hook to pay him $46 million in each of the next two seasons.
Watson’s arrival in Cleveland also came amid accusations by more than two dozen women of sexual assault and harassment during massage therapy sessions while he played for the Texans. Two grand juries declined to indict him and he has settled civil lawsuits in all but one of the cases.
Watson was suspended by the NFL for his first 11 games and fined $5 million for violating the league’s personal conduct policy before he took his first snap with the Browns. The long layoff — he sat out the 2021 season in a contract dispute — led to struggles once he got on the field, and Watson made just six starts last season before hurting his shoulder.
Cleveland signed veteran Joe Flacco, who went 4-1 as a starter and led the Browns to the playoffs.
Before Watson got hurt this year, he didn’t play much better. He was one of the league’s lowest-rated passers for a Cleveland team that hasn’t scored 20 points in a game and is back in search of a franchise QB.
