Early burst lifts Pineda, Yanks over Blue Jays
TORONTO -- Mark Teixeira homered, Jacoby Ellsbury went 3-for-5 with a pair of runs scored and Michael Pineda tossed eight scoreless innings in the Yankees' 6-3 victory over the Blue Jays on Tuesday night at Rogers Centre.
New York did most of its damage early in the game against right-hander Marco Estrada, who was making his first start of the season. In the first inning, Alex Rodriguez had a two-run double and Ellsbury followed in the second with an RBI single. Teixeira then put the game away in the fifth with a two-run shot to right-center field. That was the final batter of the night for Estrada, as he allowed five runs (four earned) on eight hits while striking out three.
Video: NYY@TOR: Ellsbury shines at the plate, on basepaths
Pineda was borderline dominant for New York, despite a pair of doubles by Devon Travis and Russell Martin. He struck out six and walked one while allowing five hits, and it was his fourth consecutive outing allowing three runs or fewer.
Video: NYY@TOR: Pineda fans six over eight shutout frames
The lone bright spot for Toronto came in a three-run ninth inning, which included a solo homer to left field by Martin. It was Martin's sixth of the year, and he is now batting .357 (20-for-57) with six doubles, six homers, 14 RBIs and 10 walks over his past 17 games.
"He's a big, intimidating guy. He keeps it down at the knees," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said of Pineda. "Guys who do that are awfully tough, and he had a good breaking ball working. We had some guys on base early in the game, couldn't get the big hit to pull close, but he was good. He shut down a hot offense."
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Blue Jays rally comes up short: Toronto's offense was nowhere to be seen until the bottom of the ninth inning, when it suddenly sprung to life. Martin homered, Chris Colabello had an RBI double, Ryan Goins added an RBI single and the Blue Jays eventually brought the tying run to the plate. Travis then hit a weak fly ball to right field as Yankees closer Andrew Miller picked up his 11th save of the year.
Video: NYY@TOR: Colabello plates Pillar with RBI double
Pineda shines in third: Pineda was effective all night, but no more so than in the third, when he got Edwin Encarnacion to fly out with runners on second and third after allowing a leadoff walk and a two-out double. Outside of that inning, the righty was never in any real danger, and he cruised to record his sixth straight victory, a streak that dates back to Sept. 22, 2014. More >
Estrada struggles early: In his first appearance since being moved out of the bullpen to take the spot of rookie left-hander Daniel Norris, Estrada needed 27 pitches to make it out of the first inning. New York's rallies in the first and second dealt a blow the Blue Jays weren't able to overcome, but after that, Estrada settled into a nice groove. He faced one batter over the minimum in the third and fourth innings before running out of gas in the fifth. It was a relatively solid outing for a guy who hadn't thrown more than three innings in a game this year. More >
Teixeira's injury a non-factor: If Teixeira is dealing with a nagging lat injury, it sure didn't show in fifth inning. Teixeira sent a two-run homer over the wall in right to extend the Yankees' lead to 5-0. It marked career homer No. 373 for the first baseman, who tied teammate Carlos Beltran for fourth on the all-time list among switch-hitters. More >
Video: NYY@TOR: Teixeira goes deep to pad Yankees' lead
QUOTABLE
"If you spot Pineda too many, he's too good. He's not going to give up a lot." -- Gibbons
"He's sore. They did what's called a fluoroscope [a medical imaging technique similar to an X-ray], and that came back negative. It sounds like something in a dentist's office. We'll see how he feels tomorrow, and if we have to X-ray it, we'll X-ray it." -- Yankees manager Joe Girardi, on the status of Gregorio Petit, who took a ball off the hands in the eighth and left the game in the ninth
Video: NYY@TOR: Petit shaken up after getting hit on K
SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS
When the Blue Jays' bullpen is forced to work four or more innings in a game, relievers have combined to post a 2.52 ERA (11 earned runs over 39 1/3 innings). When the bullpen works fewer than four innings, the relievers have combined to post an ERA of 5.23. Jeff Francis, Steve Delabar and Chad Jenkins combined to allow one run over 4 1/3 innings Tuesday night against New York.
Pineda has defeated all four AL East teams on his current four-game road winning streak.
WHAT'S NEXT
Yankees: CC Sabathia looks to snap a five-game winless streak in the Yankees' series finale in Toronto at 7:07 p.m. ET. Sabathia has traditionally performed well against the Blue Jays, as the 34-year-old has posted a career 7-2 record in nine starts in Toronto and a 15-5 record overall. His 3.08 ERA against the Blue Jays since joining the Yankees is his lowest mark for any AL East team.
Blue Jays: Left-hander Mark Buehrle will make his sixth start of the year when Toronto wraps up its three-game series with the Yankees. Buehrle opened the season with three consecutive quality starts, but his recent outings haven't gone nearly as well. The 36-year-old has allowed 13 runs over his last 10 innings, and he will need to get back on track soon to help a struggling rotation.
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