Yankees hold off Blue Jays in thriller
NEW YORK -- Didi Gregorius hit the game-tying triple and scored the go-ahead run on Starlin Castro's sacrifice fly in the eighth inning as the New York Yankees held on for a 7-6 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday night.
The Yankees tied the game at 4-4 against Jason Grilli (3-1) when Gregorius tripled over center fielder Kevin Pillar's head and scored Jacoby Ellsbury. Two pitches later, Gregorius slid in head first on Castro's fly ball to right field and scored well before Jose Bautista's throw reached home.
Gregorius, who had been in a 1-for-22 slump before his triple, helped give the Yankees their ninth win in 13 games. New York remained 3 1/2 games behind the Baltimore Orioles for the second wild card spot.
The Yankees added two crucial runs when Chase Headley hit a two-run homer into the right-center field bleachers.
After the late rally, the Yankees sweated out the ninth. Dellin Betances, pitching for the third day in a row, walked Jose Bautista and Josh Donaldson before being charged with a wild pitch.
Edwin Encarnacion made it 7-5 with an infield single up the middle. Betances got the first out by striking out Russell Martin, but loaded the bases by walking pinch hitter Dioner Navarro.
Melvin Upton Jr. reached on an infield hit when Betances was did not get his foot on the first base bag. Betances was lifted for Blake Parker.
Parker struck out Pillar for the second out and finished off his first save when left fielder Brett Gardner leapt and caught Justin Smoak's fly ball up against the wall.
The Yankees needed Gregorius' hit and slide because they were unable to protect a 3-2 lead. New York's Tyler Austin hit a two-run homer with two out in the seventh off Aaron Sanchez, but the Blue Jays took a 4-3 lead on Pillar's two-run double to the left field wall with two outs in the eighth off Ben Heller.
Before blowing a pair of one-run leads, Encarnacion homered in the first inning and Bautista had a broken-bat RBI single in the fifth off Luis Cessa.
Brian McCann homered in the fourth for the Yankees.
The Yankees used seven relievers and Chasen Shreve (2-1) recorded the final out of the eighth for the win.
Sanchez allowed three runs and five hits in seven innings and Cessa allowed two runs and six hits in 5 1/3 innings.
The teams traded second-deck home runs in the first four innings.
Encarnacion reached the second deck in left field for his 37th home run with two outs in the first for a 1-0 Toronto lead. McCann reached the second deck in right field for his 17th home run with two outs in the fourth to tie it.
Toronto quickly broke the deadlock by putting two on with one out in the fifth. Bautista lined an RBI single into left field for a 2-1 lead but the inning stalled when third baseman Chase Headley made a diving stop on a ball hit by Donaldson and Encarnacion flied out to the right-field warning track.
NOTES: Both teams recalled a pair of pitchers from their Triple-A affiliates. Toronto recalled LHP Aaron Loup and RHP Bo Schultz while the Yankees promoted LHP James Pazos and RHP Bryan Mitchell. Manager Joe Girardi said he was leaning toward starting Mitchell on Wednesday. ... Toronto manager John Gibbons said LHP Francisco Liriano (back) is feeling better and he likely would have pitched more than two innings Monday if he did not get hurt. ... Gibbons said his rotation for this weekend's series against Boston will be RHP Marco Estrada, LHP J.A. Happ and RHP Aaron Sanchez. ... Toronto OF Kevin Pillar and New York OF Brett Gardner were named as nominees for the Roberto Clemente Community Service award, which will be announced during the World Series.