Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Ricky Romero was remarkable and his teammates put up another home run show in Yankee Stadium.
The 25-year-old left-hander pitched a two-run complete game, only allowing two hits and a walk. The Blue Jays’ 8-2 win is their second against the New York Yankees in many nights.
The two runs scored by Yankees came in the first inning. Shortstop Derek Jeter led off with a walk. First baseman Mark Teixeira stepped up to the plate after Nick Swisher lined out.
On a 2-1 count, he belted his 23rd home run of the year to score Jeter. He has homered twice two nights in a row and hit three in four games. The Yankees led 2-0.
Romero (9-7) settled in and was nearly perfect. He retired 11 batters in a row before yielding the only other hit to Marcus Thames to lead off the fifth inning.
He then shut down the Yankees for the rest of the night. He only needed to throw a total of 118 pitches for the complete game, which lasted two hours and 21 minutes.
Four different Jays hit homers against the starter of the Yankees, Dustin Moseley (1-1), and relievers Kerry Wood and Sergio Mitre.
The first one came in the fourth inning, when the Jays were trailing by the score of 2-1. After a double play, second baseman Aaron Hill was hit by Moseley’s fastball. He scored on catcher John Buck’s double.
Then, Travis Snider sent Moseley’s first pitch into the right field stand for his seventh homer of the season.
Moseley served up another one in the eighth inning to the leadoff batter, Vernon Wells, on a 2-2 count. He retired the following batter before he was replaced by Kerry Wood.
Aaron Hill responded to the pitching change by sending Wood’s 1-2 count delivery over the left-field wall.
In the ninth, with Blue Jays third baseman Edwin Encarnacion at second base, Jose Bautista also connected, as he now leads the league with 33 home runs. The two runs were charged to Mitre.
Romero’s complete game last night is his second this season and in his major league career. The first one came on May 30 in Rogers Stadium against the Baltimore Orioles.
The Toronto Blue Jays improve their season record to 56-51 and play the spoiler role in the AL East pennant race. After the loss, New York skids to second place in the division, one game behind the Tampa Bay Rays.
Alex Rodriguez, still on a quest for his 600th career home run, finished the night 0-for-4 with a strikeout. He went hitless in his last five games.
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