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Nathan Eovaldi and R.A. Dickey were locked in somewhat of a pitcher's duel until both were pulled in the seventh inning. The difference was that Eovaldi was pulled in time, whereas the damage had already been done against Dickey.
The Yankees got the scoring started early thanks to a Jacoby Ellsbury first inning triple. After Brett Gardner walked and Mark Teixeira struck out, Carlos Beltran drove Ellsbury in when he somehow beat out a potential double play ball to put the Yankees up by one. It turned out that this was the only run they needed. The offense was relatively quiet from that point on until a Beltran leadoff solo home run in the fourth inning.
As good as Eovaldi was, he did almost get into trouble early on. In the second inning, Eovaldi gave up a hit to Troy Tulowitzki and followed that with a walk to Jimmy Paredes. There was a double play opportunity after Kevin Pillar hit a groundball to short, but Didi Gregorius double-clutched and an initial safe call was overturned after a replay challenge. Fortunately, nothing came of this, as Darwin Barney grounded out to third to end the inning.
Once again in the third, Eovaldi almost got into trouble. He led off the inning by walking the catcher Josh Thole, and followed that by giving up a single to Jose Bautista. Fortunately for the Yankees, Josh Donaldson bunted to advance the runners but also gave the Yankees a free out. After that, Eovaldi struck out Edwin Encarnacion and got Michael Saunders to fly out to center to end the threat and the inning. Starting with Donaldson's sacrifice bunt, Eovaldi retired 12 Blue Jays in a row to finish off the sixth with 94 pitches.
Joe Girardi brought Eovaldi back out for the seventh but it was batter-to-batter for him. A leadoff walk to Tulowitzki ended Eovaldi's night at 100 pitches. At the timem the score was only 2-0, so Girardi went to his formula and brought on Dellin Betances, who retired the next three batters, two by strikeout.
For the Yankees, Dustin Ackley led off the seventh by beating Dickey to the bag on a throw from second baseman Russell Martin (!). Ackley then advanced to second and then third on consecutive at-bats from Starlin Castro and Chase Headley. After a Gregorius walk, Austin Romine scorched a ball to right field that bounced into the stands for a ground-rule double which scored Ackley and put the Yankees up by three. Joe Biagini relieved Dickey but couldn't keep the Yankees off the board as an Ellsbury beat out a throw to first by Ryan Goins and Gregorius scored.
Kirby Yates followed this rally by pitching the eighth and only allowed a walk to Bautista. After loading the bases with no outs in the eighth, the Yankees tacked on two more runs to put themselves up by six. Luis Cessa came in for the ninth and pitched a relatively clean inning, except for a Martin hit by pitch, to close out the game and secure the win.
Ivan Nova takes the mound for the Yankees tomorrow as they'll go for the series win against Marco Estrada and the Blue Jay. First pitch tomorrow is at 7:05 PM EST.