http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/07/sports/baseball/final-out-catch-by-brett-gardner-secures-yankees-win-over-blue-jays.html 2016-09-07 05:58:02 Final-Out Catch by Brett Gardner Secures Yankees’ Win Over Blue Jays The Yankees had a three-run lead going into the ninth inning but needed a grab at the left-field wall by Gardner to escape a bases-loaded jam and seal a one-run victory. === Cleanshaven and dressed in their pinstripes, the There was no Alex Rodriguez, Carlos Beltran, Aroldis Chapman, Andrew Miller or Ivan Nova. And there were several players who had spent much of the season in Moosic, Pa., as Railriders rather than Yankees. Amid all the change, the Yankees counted on some familiar faces to spare them a devastating defeat Tuesday night as a game-tying triple from Didi Gregorius, a sacrifice fly from Starlin Castro and a two-run homer from Chase Headley delivered a harrowing 7-6 comeback victory over the The win was sealed only in the bottom of the ninth, when Brett Gardner leapt up against the left-field wall to catch a Justin Smoak drive with the bases loaded to end the game. Gardner, the longest-tenured Yankee, looked as giddy as a rookie, leaping with joy when he realized he had come down with the ball. He then tossed it up in the air and celebrated with center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury. The win brought the Yankees to within four and a half games of the Blue Jays in the American League East and kept them within three and a half of the Baltimore Orioles in the wild-card race. The rally also fortified the Yankees in that it came against a team that has been their nemesis in recent years. They had not won back-to-back games against the Blue Jays since last August and were on the verge of a defeat that was as disheartening as one last month when they blew a 6-0 lead at Yankee Stadium amid a late-inning Blue Jays blitz. The Blue Jays did not go easily. Yankees reliever Dellin Betances walked three, uncorked a wild pitch and bungled covering first base in the ninth inning before leaving, having thrown 40 pitches. But Blake Parker came on and struck out Kevin Pillar — who had given the Blue Jays the lead in his previous at-bat — before giving up Smoak’s drive. The ending fit a game that took one twist after another over the final innings. After a two-run homer from Tyler Austin put the Yankees ahead by 3-2 and punctuated his 25th birthday, the Yankees’ bullpen could not hold the advantage. When Adam Warren, who was working his third inning, gave up a two-out single to Troy Tulowitzki, Tommy Layne relieved and walked pinch-hitter Melvin Upton Jr. The rookie Ben Heller, acquired in the Miller trade, was summoned to face Pillar, who drove an 0-1 pitch over the head of Gardner that scored both runners. But the Yankees answered back against Blue Jays reliever Jason Grilli, whom Manager John Gibbons had described earlier as a lifesaver since coming over from Atlanta. Grilli walked Ellsbury and, after retiring Gary Sanchez, gave up a drive into the left-center gap by Gregorius that carried over the head of Pillar, who dived in a vain attempt to catch the ball. Ellsbury raced home to tie the score, 3-3, and Castro followed with a fly ball to right that scored Gregorius easily. After Brian McCann, who earlier hit a solo homer, walked, Headley homered to right. Austin has largely settled in under the radar — as much as one can do with the Yankees. The glow of Sanchez’s red-hot start, the sizable shadow cast by Aaron Judge and the presence of the veteran Mark Teixeira have allowed Austin a degree of comfortability despite a 1-for-22 stretch. In recent days, perhaps spurred by the return to the clubhouse of the rehabilitating Greg Bird, with whom Austin is expected to compete for the first-base job next season, Austin’s bat has come alive. He doubled, singled and drove in two runs in a 5-3 win on Monday. Chad Green was awaiting a meeting Tuesday with the team doctor Christopher Ahmad after undergoing further tests to determine a course of action for the sprained elbow ligaments that caused him to leave a game last week. Even if surgery is not required, Green is unlikely to return this season, which would provide an opportunity Wednesday for Bryan Mitchell to start. Mitchell was expected to be the bullpen bridge to Betances, Miller and Chapman until he fractured a toe near the close of spring training and missed four months after surgery. He had given up one earned run in two starts for Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, striking out 14. Asked if he was ready, Mitchell said with a smile: “My last start was probably my best one. If there’s any time, it’s now, in my mind.” Mitchell is the latest young starting pitcher to be thrust into increasingly meaningful games, after Green, Luis Severino and Luis Cessa, who continued his solid run. After Cessa struck out Jose Bautista and Josh Donaldson to begin Tuesday’s game, Juan Encarnacion ripped a line-drive homer into the second deck in left field. But Brian McCann tied the score with a solo homer to right in the fourth. Cessa was slightly unfortunate to yield the lead in the fifth. With one out, Devin Travis hit a dribbler that third baseman Chase Headley tried to barehand but could not, putting runners at first and second. Then Bautista hit a broken-bat flare to left that dropped in front of Gardner, allowing Pillar to score and put the Blue Jays ahead, 2-1. Cessa’s luck turned quickly — and thankfully for the Yankees. Donaldson ripped a hard grounder down the third-base line that Headley backhanded to rob the Blue Jays of at least another run. Encarnacion then just missed another home run, driving a fastball over the outside edge of the plate to right field that Judge caught at the warning track. The Blue Jays squandered an opportunity to blow open the game in the sixth when, with the bases loaded, Smoak grounded into a 3-6-1 inning-ending double play that was slickly turned by Gregorius, who withstood a hard slide by Pillar. INSIDE PITCH Pitcher