The Bird is not the word for the Blue Jays

In a battle of heavy weights the Blue Jays could not over come a early deficit. The Jays were constantly fighting back in this one as the Yankees got to Marco Estrada early and tried to push the Jays into the corner. The Jays were resilient as they continued to come back and tie things up. Home runs from Kevin Pillar, Dioner Navarro, and Edwin Encarnacion were not enough to bring in a W in this one however. Lack of production with runners on and some issues with the bullpen would be their undoing in this one. Yankee rookie Greg Bird would be the hero for the Yanks in this one as he popped a late 3 run homer off of Mark Lowe in the 10th inning.

Games Notes

A rough start for Marco Estrada as he allowed a double to Jacoby Ellsbury to lead off the game and then a walked Alex Rodriguez. Brian McCann then singled to score Ellsbury. Carlos Beltran hit a sac fly to Ben Revere which scored A-Rod from 3rd.
The score looked like it was going to get worse as Greg Bird scorched a ball by Justin Smoak for a double and moved McCann to 3rd. With runners on 2nd and 3rd Estrada dug into his bag of tricks and threw a huge bender to Chase Headley to finally finish the first half of the inning. The Jays escaped the top of the 1st only allowing 2 runs.
After a quick 6 pitch bottom of the 1st for Luis Severino, Estrada came out and looked more settled in. He only allowed a 2 out double to Ellsbury and worked out of the 2nd.
Marco Estrado needed 57 pitches to get out of the first 3 innings. He battled through and improved as he went on.
Kevin Pillar opens up the Blue Jays scoring in the 3rd as he crushed a belt high Severino pitch into the left field second deck. The solo home run was Pillar’s 11th home run of the season. The ball was hit so hard on a line drive and ran into the second deck.
Josh Donaldson walks to lead off the bottom of the 4th and advanced on a wild pitch by Severino. Justin Smoak torched a ball down the first base line that scored Donaldson. Smoak was thrown out at 2nd after the run scored to end the inning. The Smoak RBI tied the game at 2 heading into the 5th.
Marco Estrada retired 10 batters in a row as he closed out the top of the 6th inning. He had 95 pitches at the end of the inning which shows how much better he did after a rough start.
Estrada walked Dustin Ackley with 1 out in the 7th and Didi Gregorius singled into right field. Jose Bautista fielded the ball and came up throwing. The ball was caught by Donaldson who made a great spinning tag on Ackley but was initially called safe. The play was reviewed and later over turned to call Ackley out. Stellar play by Bautista and Donaldson.
After intentionally walking Ellsbury Aaron Loup came in and allowed a heart breaking single to Brett Gardner. The ball deflected off of Loup and just did not allow Ryan Goins enough time to get an out.
Liam Hendricks replaced Loup and faced Alex Rodriguez with the bases loaded. Hendricks would strike out A-Rod in a key at bat with a down right nasty pitch. A-Rod swung at the pitch that was well out of the strike zone but broke like crazy out of the zone.
Carlos Beltran hits his 17th home run of the season off of Liam Hendricks to put the Yankees on top 3-2 in the top of the 7th. Beltran had destroyed the Blue Jays this season.
Kevin Pillar leads off the 8th inning with a bloop single just over Brendan Ryan. Munenori Kawasaki bunted Pillar to second which set things up for the top of the order. Josh Donaldson walked as Kevin Pillar stole 3rd base. Dellin Betances then walked Jose Bautista to load the bases for Edwin Encarnacion with the bases loaded. Volume in the ballpark was incredible and everyone was standing chanting. Betances unfortunetly got the best of double E as he went down swinging at a breaking ball.
With 2 runners on in the top of the 9th Jose Bautista makes one of the best throws I have ever seen to home on a pop fly to get a double play. Dioner Navarro tagged out Chris Young at home plate to complete the outstanding play. Ryan Tepera worked out of a 2 runners on with no outs situation to keep the score at 3-2 going into the home part of the 9th.
After being part of the outstanding play in the top half of the 9th Dioner Navarro deposited a ball in to the left field seats and ignited the crowd. Navarro took an Andrew Miller high pitch and wrapped it around the left field foul poll. This was the first home run Miller had allowed this season and only his second blown save. Tie game 3-3
Some excellent managing by John Gibbons in the 9th with 2 outs as he pitch hits Matt Hague who was intentionally walked and then put Russell Martin in for Ben Revere with 2 runners on. Andrew Miller struggles with Martin who was looking for a walkoff Blue Jays win with 2 outs in the 9th. The walk off opportunity was set up by a Kevin Pillar double and the walk to Hague. With a 3-2 count Martin walked to load the bases for the bringer of rain Josh Donaldson. Miller would dig down and strike out Donaldson to force extra innings.
Mark Lowe come on in the 10th and the first 2 batters reached base. Greg Bird then hit a 3 run home run. This put the Yankees up 6-3. The Bird is def the word for Yankees fans these days.
Edwin Encarnacion hits a screamer in the bottom of the 10th with 1 out to make the score 6-4. This would be the last gasp for the Jays however.

Next: Tulo begins to throw, Optimism Grows

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