Bautista and Stroman combine to help the Toronto Blue Jays blank Yankees again
TORONTO — Jose Bautista, who has made a career out of timely hits, provided offence on cue Saturday with a late homer to help the Toronto Blue Jays stay on course in their bid for the playoffs.
Bautista hammered an eighth-inning home run and Toronto pitchers stymied the Yankees for the second day in a row as the Blue Jays blanked New York 3-0 before a Rogers Centre sellout of 47,828 with the roof open on a pleasant fall late afternoon.
After a seven-inning pitching duel between Toronto’s Marcus Stroman and New York’s C.C. Sabathia, Josh Donaldson ripped a two-out single to left field off Tyler Clippard (3-5) and moved to second on a wild pitch. After Edwin Encarnacion walked, Bautista drove a ball over the left-field fence for his 20th homer of the season.
“It looks like he’s heating up at the right time,” said Toronto manager John Gibbons. “Jose’s been known to do some things at key spots. I was sitting there on the bench with DeMarlo (bench coach DeMarlo Hale) and I mentioned that to him. Right guy, right time basically.”