JAYS CRUSH YANKS IN PLAY-IN OPENER

Encarnacion Homers Twice

NEW YORK, Sept. 29 (AP) – The Toronto Blue Jays bludgeoned the New York pitching staff to the tune of 11 runs on 14 hits, en route to an 11-2 rout at Yankee Stadium in the first game of an unprecedented four-team tiebreaker to establish the final American League playoff berth.  Toronto will play the winner of the Detroit Tigers-Seattle Mariners game to decide which club will face the Los Angeles Angels in the AL Wildcard game.  Edwin Encarnacion hit a pair of home runs, giving him 30 on the season, and Jose Bautista swatted his 40^th long ball of the campaign for the Jays.  Toronto took a 6-2 lead into the ninth inning before hammering Yankees closer David Robertson for five runs in the final frame, accounting for the final score.

The Jays drew first blood, plating a run in the top of the first inning off Yankees starter Brandon McCarthy.  Jose Reyes led off with a single, stole second base, and scored on Bautista’s base hit.  Two more runs in the top of the third increased Toronto’s lead to 3-0.  Munenori Kawasaki led off with a single and advanced to second on Reyes’ ground out.  Bautista’s comebacker accounted for the second out, but Encarnacion crushed his first home run of the game to put the Blue Jays ahead by three runs.  Back-to-back singles by Adam Lind and Dioner Navarro ended the day for McCarthy.  David Huff replaced him and fanned Juan Francisco to limit the damage.

The Yankees crept to within a run with a pair of tallies in the fourth off Jays starter Mark Buehrle.  Derek Jeter led off with a double and advanced to third on Brian McCann’s base hit.  Chris Young followed with a single, scoring Jeter and advancing McCann to third.  Toronto manager John Gibbons wasted no time replacing Buehrle with Marcus Stroman, who induced Chase Headley to roll into a fielder’s choice, forcing Young at second, with McCann advancing to third.  Stroman fanned Mark Teixeira for the second out, but Francisco Cervelli came through with a base hit, scoring McCann and chasing Headley to third.  Ichiro Suzuki flied to right to end the inning, but New York had pulled to within a run.  It was as close as the Yankees would get.

The Blue Jays seized firm control of the game with three runs in the top of the fifth.  With Preston Claiborne, the third Yankees pitcher of the game, on the mound, Jeter booted Reyes’ lead-off grounder for an error—one of three New York miscues on the game.  A wild pitch advanced Reyes to second.  Bautista grounded to short, with Reyes staying put, and Encarnacion rolled to second, with Reyes taking third.  With the left-handed Lind due, Yankees manager Joe Girardi called on Rich Hill to replace Claiborne.  Gibbons countered with pinch hitter Danny Valencia, so Girardi had Hill walk Valencia intentionally, then replaced him with right-hander Shane Greene.  The move blew up in Girardi’s face when Navarro blooped a single into right, scoring Reyes to make it 4-2.  A wild pitch moved the runners to second and third and Francisco then roped a double to right, scoring both Valencia and Navarro to give Toronto a 6-2 advantage.  Colby Rasmus followed with yet another base hit, but Young threw Francisco out at the plate to keep things from getting any worse.

The Yankees could do nothing off of Stroman, who pitched into the sixth, before giving way to Bret Cecil, who threw a scoreless inning before being replaced by Todd Redmond, who held the Yankees off the board through the end of the eighth.

In the top of the ninth, with Robertson called on to at least give the Yankees a shot in their final at-bat, Toronto broke the game wide open, putting a string of men on base after Robertson dispatched both Kawasaki and Reyes on strikes to open the inning.  Bautista drove a 1-2 pitch over the center field wall to make it 7-2 and Encarnacion added insult to injury with his second long ball of the game.  Valencia walked and Navarro rolled a single into left.  When Steve Tolleson, who had been inserted for defense in the eighth, walked, the bases were loaded.  With Robertson on fumes, Girardi brought in Shawn Kelley to try to get the final out, but Rasmus greeted him with a double to left-center, clearing the bases to give the Jays an 11-2 lead.  Anthony Gose mercifully struck out to finally end the inning.

Daniel Norris was asked to mop up the bottom of the ninth and, despite a two-out walk to Suzuki, did so with a minimal amount of fuss.

The Jays now wait to see whether they need to travel to Detroit or Seattle for the final AL play-in game.

9/29/2014, Tor14-NYA14, Yankee Stadium

                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9     R  H  E   LOB DP

2014 Blue Jays         1  0  2  0  3  0  0  0  5    11 14  0     6  2

2014 Yankees           0  0  0  2  0  0  0  0  0     2  9  3     7  1

Blue Jays            AB  R  H BI   AVG    Yankees              AB  R  H BI   AVG

Reyes             ss  5  2  1  0  .256    Gardner           cf  4  0  0  0  .291

Bautista          rf  5  1  2  2  .245    Jeter             ss  4  1  1  0  .246

Encarnacion       dh  5  2  2  3  .256    McCann,B          dh  4  1  2  0  .250

Lind              1b  2  0  1  0  .365    Young,CB          lf  3  0  1  1  .212

 Valencia         ph  1  2  0  0  .274    Headley           3b  4  0  1  0  .227

Navarro,D         c   5  2  3  1  .270    Teixeira          1b  4  0  1  0  .201

Francisco,J       3b  4  0  1  2  .244    Cervelli          c   4  0  1  1  .319

 Tolleson,St      3b  0  1  0  0  .281    Suzuki,I          rf  3  0  1  0  .337

Rasmus,Col        cf  5  0  2  3  .268    Drew              2b  2  0  0  0  .160

 Pillar           pr  0  0  0  0  .271     Murphy,J         ph  1  0  1  0  .308

Gose              lf  4  0  1  0  .249     Ryan,B           2b  1  0  0  0  .118

Kawasaki          2b  4  1  1  0  .241                         34  2  9  2

                     40 11 14 11

Blue Jays                        INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA

Buehrle                          3.0  4  2  2  1  0  44  27  4.34

Stroman          W 11-5          2.2  3  0  0  0  1  31  21  3.65

Cecil            H 14            1.0  2  0  0  0  1  15  11  1.93

Redmond                          1.1  0  0  0  0  0  10   7  2.47

Norris,Da                        1.0  0  0  0  1  0  14   6  4.05

                                 9.0  9  2  2  2  2 114  72

Yankees                          INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA

McCarthy         L 15-9          2.2  7  3  3  0  1  43  30  2.66

Huff                             1.1  0  0  0  0  2  15  11  3.02

Claiborne                        0.2  0  1  0  0  0   9   6  4.22

Hill,R                           0.0  0  1  1  1  0   4   0 10.29

Greene                           0.1  3  1  1  0  0  12   6  3.10

Phelps,D                         2.0  0  0  0  1  3  29  17  3.38

Warren                           1.0  0  0  0  0  2  13  10  2.85

Robertson,Dav                    0.2  3  5  5  2  2  35  18  2.43

Kelley                           0.1  1  0  0  0  1  10   6  4.50

                                 9.0 14 11 10  4 11 170 104

Tor: Valencia batted for Lind in the 5th

     Valencia moved to 1b in the 5th

     Tolleson,St inserted at 3b in the 8th

     Pillar ran for Rasmus,Col in the 9th

     Pillar moved to lf in the 9th

     Gose moved to cf in the 9th

NYA: Murphy,J batted for Drew in the 7th

     Ryan,B inserted at 2b in the 8th

E-Jeter 2, Headley. 2B-Francisco,J(30), Rasmus,Col(25), Gose(14), Jeter(19),

Headley(23), Suzuki,I(16). HR-Bautista(40), Encarnacion 2(30).

RBI-Bautista 2(99), Encarnacion 3(80), Navarro,D(70), Francisco,J 2(56),

Rasmus,Col 3(65), Young,CB(45), Cervelli(22). SB-Reyes(30). K-Reyes 2,

Navarro,D 2, Francisco,J 2, Rasmus,Col, Gose 2, Kawasaki 2, Teixeira,

Cervelli. BB-Gose, Valencia 2, Tolleson,St, Young,CB, Suzuki,I. WP-Claiborne,

Greene.

GWRBI: Bautista

Temperature: 47, Sky: clear, Wind: in from right at 16 MPH.

Attendance: 49,566

Game Time: 3:24