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 The Blue Jays right fielder more than welcomes those pitches.
When Bautista saw a fastball over the middle of the plate with one
out in the top of the 10th inning, he gladly accepted it and turned
it into a tiebreaking solo home run, lifting the Blue Jays to a 2-1
victory over the New York Yankees on Friday.
"We like hard-throwing pitchers," Bautista said. "I think I heard in
one of the broadcasts that we hit better on hard-throwing pitchers.
"So I don't think that fazes anybody here. We love the fastball. We
actually invite people to throw fastballs."
Bautista's 25th home run gave Toronto (59-52) their sixth straight
win and inched them to within 3 1/2 games of the Yankees (61-47) in
the AL East.
It also marked the sixth straight time he reached 25 home runs in a
season, though this time was more significant due to Toronto's place
in the standings.
"We've been playing really well," said Blue Jays manager John
Gibbons after his team beat the Yankees for the sixth time in the
last 27 meetings in New York. "Coming in here, this is a team we're
chasing. We got to beat them sooner or later."
The home run capped a tight, well-played ballgame and came after
Bautista took a slider and a fastball from Branden Pinder to fall
behind 0-2.
After taking a slider, Pinder threw a fastball over the middle of
the plate and Bautista did not miss, sending the pitch over the
left-field fence.
"He just made a mistake with a fastball," Bautista said. "I felt
like it was right down the middle, and on a 1-2 count, I'm looking
for an extra-base hit. I'm not trying to poke a single to the right
side in that situation. I need to get on second."
'HITTING A BUTTERFLY'
Pinder was pitching after New York's top three relievers, Justin
Wilson, Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller, kept the game tied.
Wilson struck out left fielder Ben Revere for the second out of the
seventh, Betances got third baseman Josh Donaldson on a groundout
with the bases loaded in the seventh and Miller stranded a runner at
third in the ninth.
"It was a fastball inside," Pinder said after his 14th career
appearance. "It just cut on me a little bit. I would have liked to
get it a little more inside."
Bautista's third career extra-inning home run came after Toronto
relievers LaTroy Hawkins and Brett Cecil induced key double plays in
the eighth and ninth.
Hawkins got designated hitter Alex Rodriguez to ground into a double
play for the first two outs of the eighth, and Cecil (3-4) ended his
inning by getting third baseman Chase Headley on a double play.
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After the Bautista home run, Roberto Osuna closed it out, needing
six pitches to get his ninth save in 10 opportunities.
"Excited," Osuna said of Bautista's home run. "I want to pitch today
and I want to win, so (I'm) very excited."
Bautista's blast capped a pitcher's duel involving Toronto
knuckleballer R.A. Dickey and New York right-hander Nathan Eovaldi.
In the first of 13 games over the final eight weeks between the top
two offenses in baseball, neither team scored after the second.
Donaldson hit his 30th home run on Eovaldi's 13th pitch of the
night, sending a 2-2 fastball over the right-field fence with one
out in the first.
Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira opened the second with a
controversial home run. Teixeira drove Dickey's 0-1 pitch to left
field and stood on second with a double. Replays showed a fan
reaching over and touching the ball, and following a nearly
four-minute review, Teixeira had his 30th home run.
New York faced a knuckleball pitcher for the second time in three
games after losing to Boston's Steven Wright on Wednesday. The
Yankees had six hits off Dickey but had more opportunities Friday.
"It's like hitting a butterfly," New York manager Joe Girardi said.
"I thought we had better swings tonight than we did the other night.
We just weren't able to score any runs."
While the Yankees struggled to generate anything off Dickey, the
Blue Jays could do little against Eovaldi, who gave up five hits but
threw 112 pitches in 6 1/3 innings.
(Compiled by Peter Rutherford)
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