In Position to Put Away Blue Jays, Yankees Throw Away Their Chance

The inning after squandering their first of two bases-loaded chances, after stranding 3 of their 11 runners, the Yankees were left to deconstruct a breakdown in fundamentals by the normally reliable Dave Robertson, who took over in the sixth after five mediocre innings by Freddy Garcia.

The play itself evoked sun-kissed mornings in early spring training, of pitchers performing basic drills on back fields before position players have reported. With the Yankees trailing by a run, and with Robertson on the verge of escaping a two-on, two-out jam, he faked a pick-off throw to third. It tricked the runner on first, Jose Bautista, who broke toward second and was stuck between the bases. And then, Robertson said, “I panicked.”

With his attention directed toward the speedy runner at third, Rajai Davis, Robertson hurried, never setting his feet as he fired the ball over Robinson Cano’s head at second.

“I don’t want to let him score, but I want to get the out,” Robertson said. “I forced the throw instead of taking the extra half-second to turn and throw.”

As Davis scored, Robertson slapped his glove and talked to himself, then allowed a single to Juan Rivera that drove in Bautista, whose left hand touched the plate a tick before Russell Martin tagged him. The score was 5-2, Blue Jays, and the Yankees’ best efforts produced just one more run, on the second homer of the night from Cano, while leaving five runners on base in the seventh and eighth innings.

“Can’t say we didn’t have our chances,” said Nick Swisher, who grounded out with the bases loaded to end the eighth, “because we had a lot of them tonight.”

More and more, the Yankees are finding that pitchers are plying them with off-speed pitches as a way to contain their slugging lineup. Of their nine strikeouts (three each by Andruw Jones and Curtis Granderson), seven came on softer stuff (six curves, one changeup) that is the domain of Garcia, who changes speeds and eye levels out of necessity, his 86-mile per hour fastball leaving few alternatives.

The inherent risk, which he knows, is that he must control all his pitches, commanding them as a conductor would direct an orchestra, a skill came easily in his first two starts, a pair of six-inning scoreless outings against Texas and Baltimore. On Friday he seemed to battle himself, alternately fooling Toronto hitters — he generated an astounding 15 swings-and-misses — and inviting them to pounce.

“Not today, man,” Garcia said. “I don’t know. I just couldn’t throw strikes.”

His charmed ability to avoid damage lasted a full two innings before a leadoff walk to Yunel Escobar preceded a home run from Bautista that seemed to approach supersonic speed as it zoomed out of Yankee Stadium, the crowd gasping as it landed in the second deck in left field.

The Blue Jays led, 2-1, and they added another homer in the fourth, on a leadoff blast by J. P. Arencibia, as they approached Garcia with patience, working five walks. Garcia’s inefficiency (101 pitches through five innings) cost him a chance to go further. But he left with the Yankees trailing by only a run, at 3-2, helping them stay close against the cunning left-hander Ricky Romero.

Teixeira nearly solved him, ripping a third-inning liner that Romero snagged just before it struck his face, a clutch show of self-preservation. “There was an angel next to me right there,” Romero said.

He faced a modified lineup that did not include Jorge Posada, who received his second night off in four days — and can expect more rest during this stretch of 32 games in 33 days as Manager Joe Girardi rotates his designated hitters.

The decision would probably be more difficult for Girardi if Posada were hitting well, which he is not. For a time Posada’s power — six of his nine hits were home runs — somewhat obscured a season-long funk, but not anymore: with two hits in his last 32 at-bats, Posada entered Friday batting .130, lowest among the 193 qualifying players, according to Stats LLC.

He watched from the bench as the Yankees’ fortunes nearly turned in the fifth on a maddening play that produced only frustration. With runners on first and second and no outs, Swisher ripped a liner that popped out of third baseman Edwin Encarnacion’s glove. Figuring the ball had been caught, Brett Gardner turned to dive back into second, but Encarnacion threw the ball there anyway, and it zipped into right field, loading the bases. Teixeira followed with a pop out, the slumping Alex Rodriguez grounded into an inning-ending double play, and Robertson faltered the next inning.


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