NEW YORK – The Toronto Blue Jays offence consisted of three hits and a walk Monday night, and when that’s all there is to a team’s output at the plate, well, it’s not too hard to figure out the game’s outcome.
So give R.A. Dickey, Joe Biagini, Brett Cecil and Ryan Tepera credit for keeping things close in a 1-0 loss to the New York Yankees, who went an astonishing 2-for-18 with runners in scoring position.
This one should have been long over before Chase Headley saved the save for Dellin Betances, fielding Edwin Encarnacion’s smash to third base and starting a terrific around the horn double play that closed this one out.
"I thought we had a shot there at the end," lamented Blue Jays manager John Gibbons. "But Headley made a great play. … It’s tough to come through against Betances."
Even tougher, this time out, against rookie right-hander Chad Green, who kept the Blue Jays offence on lockdown by striking out 11 batters over six innings of two-hit ball. Painting with a mid-90s heater and a disappearing slider that Blue Jays continually waved over, he retired the first 13 batters and was in danger only once.
That was in the fifth, when Troy Tulowitzki lofted a soft liner into left field and Darrell Ceciliani followed by ripping a double to right. But the rally ended there as Justin Smoak struck out on a slider and Melvin Upton Jr. was caught looking at a 94 mph heater on the outside corner in the ninth pitch of the at-bat.
"When you’ve got to have contact we couldn’t get it," said Gibbons.
Green proceeded to strike out the side in the sixth, closing his outing with five straight Ks. Pivotally, he held the four left-handed Blue Jays bats to a single hit in eight at-bats, neutralizing his prime vulnerability. Through his first eight outings, righties posted a .653 OPS against the 25-year-old, while lefties clubbed him at a 1.138 clip.
"He was making good pitches with (his slider) all night," said Josh Thole. "And then it made his fastball that much better, and he’s got a good fastball. When you’re commanding your off-speed pitches like that, it makes it tough."
Tyler Clippard and Adam Warren kept things rolling in the seventh and the eighth before Betances hit a speed bump in the ninth.
He walked Thole to open the frame – triggering a "Let’s go, Blue Jays" chant from the hosers in a crowd of 36,015 – and Josh Donaldson followed with a one-out single before Encarnacion’s grounder was gobbled up cleverly by Headley.
"I thought it was down the line," said Thole, pulled for a pinch-runner at that point. "I was on the bat-rack, I couldn’t see right away, but that’s what our offence is about, fight ‘til the end."
Dickey, sitting around 80 mph with his knuckleball, escaped two-on, none-out jams in each of the first two innings unscathed. He wasn’t as fortunate in the fourth, when mountain-of-a-man Aaron Judge followed consecutive one-out walks by lashing an RBI double to right-centre.
The Yankees could do no further damage that inning and then squandered a leadoff double by Headley in the fifth, as Dickey finished the night having allowed just one run on four hits and four walks over five innings.
"Just feeling good, I feel very, very strong," Dickey said of his extra velocity. "I feel like I could throw 120 pitches no problem, so at this time of the year, that’s how you want to feel, for sure. Unfortunately I had some high-pitch count innings, I felt like I could have pitched really deep into that game."
The narrow escapes for the Blue Jays continued the next inning when Biagini loaded the bases with one out but recovered to get a force-out at home on Jacoby Ellsbury’s comebacker before striking out Headley on a check-swing appeal.
Tepera worked out of more trouble in the eighth, helped in particular when he managed to get the lead out at third base on an Aaron Hicks sacrifice bunt attempt.
But with so little offence, the pitching went for naught.
"The last three or four months have felt like I’ve always been just a click away from turning out really good outings," said Dickey. "It’s unfortunate tonight I gave up the run, but their guy pitched remarkably well, sometimes you’ve got to tip your cap to the other guy."
Notes: Ezequiel Carrera, 0-for-5 on rehab at triple-A Buffalo, is eligible to come off the DL on Tuesday. Manager John Gibbons said before the game the Blue Jays might give him another game or two with the Bisons. Carrera is 1-for-13 so far on rehab. … The Blue Jays had won five straight games against the Yankees. They’re now 13-20 in one-run contests. … Blue Jays prospect Conner Greene was named the double-A Eastern League’s pitcher of the week. The right-hander threw six hitless innings Friday against Trenton with two walks and six strikeouts.