Yankees 6, Blue Jays 3: Pineda excellent as Yankees hold on for win

The final score of this game does not quite indicate the excellent pitching performance that it contained. Michael Pineda was very good today. In his eight innings of work, he allowed five hits and one walk while striking out six. He shut out the Blue Jays in those eight innings while getting six runs of support from the offense. Unfortunately, when he turned it over to the bullpen, they, or one person in particular I should say, couldn't keep the shut-out intact. In the end, the Yankees hung on for a 6-3 win over the Blue Jays.

The Yankees eclipsed their run total from yesterday before the Blue Jays even recorded an out. Jacoby Ellsbury led off the game for the Yankees with a single. Brett Gardner came up next and he battled Marco Estrada in a long at bat. On the 11th pitch of that at bat, Gardner dropped a hit into right-center field. Ellsbury moved to third on the play and Gardner hustled into second with a double. Alex Rodriguez followed that up with a double, scoring both Ellsbury and Gardner, and making it 2-0.

An inning later, the Yankees added more. With two outs in the inning, Gregorio Petit reached after Josh Donaldson airmailed a throw to first on a grounder. Ellsbury was up next and he doubled down the left field line. Petit scored and it was now 3-0.

Three innings later, even more runs. For the third time in the game, Ellsbury got a hit. He singled, stole second and then moved to third on a ground out. With two outs in the inning, Mark Teixeira smashed a long home run to right-ish center, making it 5-0 Yankees.

In the eighth inning, the Yankees added another insurance run. With one out in the inning, Brian McCann picked up a walk. Two batters later, Stephen Drew added a single. Didi Gregorius then brought McCann home with a single that moved Drew to third. That took the Yankees' lead to 6-0.

After eight strong innings from Pineda, the Yankees sent in David Carpenter to finish off the game. That didn't start off great as Carpenter allowed a lead-off home run to Russell Martin. Carpenter did get the next two hitters out, but then allowed a walk to Kevin Pillar. That was followed up by a Chris Colabello ground-rule double that scored Pillar, officially making the game scary. And when Ryan Goins added a single that scored another run, Girardi had to go and bring in Andrew Miller. Miller walked Jose Bautista, bringing the tying run to the plate in the form of Devon Travis. Miller got Travis to pop up and the Yankees survived with a 6-3 win.

Despite the scariness at the end, it was a pretty good win for the Yankees. Pineda was excellent, the offense was pretty good and the Yankees won. I'll take it.

The Yankees and Blue Jays will finish up their series in Toronto tomorrow at 7:07 eastern. CC Sabathia and Mark Buerhrle will be the starting pitchers.

Box score.