Andrew Benintendi picked the right time for his first home run in pinstripes and Nestor Cortes delivered an ace-level start as the skidding Yankees finally beat the Blue Jays on Sunday, 4-2, to avoid a four-game sweep at Yankee Stadium.
It was a nice win on Paul O’Neill Day and it pushed the Yanks’ AL East lead back to eight games over Toronto. But it doesn’t mean all is well with what was once a dominant club. The Yanks are still thirsty for more consistent offense and are a bleak 4-14 over their last 18 games.
Here are the takeaways:
- Benintendi, the trade piece who entered the game batting just .192 with a .604 OPS in his first 22 games as a Yankee, cranked a drive into the second deck in right field in the seventh inning, a two-run shot that snapped a 2-2 tie. The homer, off righty side-armer Adam Cimber, was his fourth overall this year.
- Cortes, for six innings, was the kind of stopper the Yankees have needed recently. He allowed just one run and three hits, striking out five and walking one. His final act was to strike out Vladimir Guerrero Jr, Alejandro Kirk and Teoscar Hernández, the Blue Jays’ 2-3-4 hitters, in the sixth inning, all swinging. His workday was finished after 103 pitches (71 strikes). Cortes (10-4) trimmed his season ERA to 2.68.
- Things went briefly awry afterward, though. In the seventh, the Blue Jays tied the score at two. Jonathan Loaisiga retired only one of the three batters he faced and Wandy Peralta walked No. 9 hitter Jackie Bradley Jr. on a 3-2 pitch with the bases loaded, forcing in the tying run.
- The game got spicy in the bottom of the fifth inning after Benintendi hit a one-out double. With first base open, Aaron Judge got hit in the upper left arm and said something to Jays’ starter Alek Manoah, perhaps perceiving that he had been hit on purpose instead of just being intentionally walked. Manoah indicated that wasn’t so, but some Yankees came out of the dugout, including a visibly angry Gerrit Cole.
Judge waved his teammates back as he went to first base and then Judge and Manoah briefly talked, which seemed to settle the matter. Maybe the Yankees were looking for any excuse to fire themselves up. But Manoah retired the next two hitters to squelch that brief threat.
- The Yanks took a 1-0 lead in the first inning by scoring an unearned run with two outs. Anthony Rizzo drilled a ball off the right-field wall that narrowly missed being a home run. It was hit so hard – 107 mph off the bat, according to Baseball Savant – that Rizzo could only get a single.
But he was running on a pitch to DJ LeMahieu that LeMahieu whacked through the hole that opened at shortstop when Bo Bichette moved to cover second. Rizzo kept going to third and then scored on a throwing error by left fielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. LeMahieu was not credited with an RBI, but he got one two innings later that put the Yanks up, 2-1, on a sharp grounder that eluded Bichette and drove in Benintendi.
- Cortes gave up a home run to Toronto’s Whit Merrifield leading off the third inning that tied the score at one. Merrifield’s drive to center hit the top of the wall not once, but twice, before dropping over for what was ruled a solo homer. It was Merrifield’s seventh of the season.
- For the third straight game, Oswaldo Cabrera turned in a notable defensive play at a different position. He started at shortstop on Sunday and made a terrific backhand stop in the short-third hole. Then he completed a jump throw to start the eighth, retiring Kirk. Add that to his running catch Saturday of a foul ball and how he landed on his face, and he’s got a minor Derek Jeter vibe working -- at least for now. Speaking of defense, in the fourth inning, Rizzo made a great backhand snare of a pop up after a long run near the stands by first base.
- Aaron Hicks, who entered Sunday with a .217 average, heard boos every time he made another out in an 0-for-3 day.
- Before the game, the Yankees held a ceremony to retire O’Neill’s No. 21 jersey. It was well-attended by dynasty-era stars. Tino Martinez, Bernie Williams, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera were all there, along with former head athletic trainer Gene Monahan. Joe Torre, David Cone, Jeter and Don Mattingly were among those who offered congratulations via video.
Fans chanted O’Neill’s name, loudly, several times. “Some things never get old,” O’Neill told the crowd. “It sounds great still today.” He is the 23rd player or manager to have his number set aside by the Yankees. One of the gifts given to O’Neill was a “Paul O’Neill-inspired” water cooler, an arch nod to his rough treatment of water coolers when he made an out during his career.