June 27, 1977 – Blue Jays 7, Yankees 6

TORONTO – After such an emotionally draining sweep of the first-place Red Sox, maybe it was understandable that the Yankees were due for a letdown. However, that doesn’t mean it should have happened, not when the opponent was the expansion Blue Jays, the last-place Blue Jays who had lost 12 of their previous 15 games.

Ron Guidry, after retiring the first 12 men he faced, came unglued in the fifth inning when he walked the bases loaded before serving up a grand slam to Hector Torres, a light-hitting infielder who hit all of 18 home runs in 1,901 career plate appearances during parts of nine major-league seasons. It was the first grand slam in Blue Jays history, and it started the Yankees on their way to defeat in the first regular-season game they’d ever played outside the United States.

“I threw about six or seven pitches I thought were strikes, but the umpire didn’t,” Guidry said of the spate of walks. Maybe, but he also threw two gopher balls as he yielded a two-run homer to 38-year-old Ron Fairly in the sixth. This was Guidry’s second straight clunker, during which he’d allowed 12 earned runs. Prior to this, he’d allowed only 19 earned runs in 13 appearances.

Two of the victories over the Red Sox featured dramatic ninth-inning comebacks, and the Yankees almost did it again at Exhibition Stadium.

Trailing 7-4, one-out singles by Graig Nettles and Carlos May and a walk to George Zeber loaded the bases. After Jimmy Wynn struck out, making him two for his last 51, Mickey Rivers laced a two-run single to right. Roy White walked to re-load the bases, but Jerry Johnson – who’d come on in relief after Jesse Jefferson had yielded the single to May – struck out Thurman Munson on a slider down and away to end the game.

“If he’s anywhere around the plate, Munson hits him,” lamented Billy Martin. “But Thurman was too anxious.”

The daily baseball report

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