Sept. 11, 1977 – Yankees 4-4, Blue Jays 3-6
- Sal Maiorana
- Sep 11, 2017
- 2 min read
NEW YORK – While the Red Sox were stretching their winning streak to five games in finishing off a four-game sweep of the Tigers at Fenway, the pesky Blue Jays delivered another dagger to the Yankees by earning a split in a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium.
Those results left the Yankees just 1.5 games ahead of the Red Sox, and after a day off for both teams, Boston would be coming to New York for the biggest three-game series between these two teams since perhaps 1949.
And if the Yankees were to blow their lead and lose the division, all they would have to do is look back on their games against the lowly Blue Jays. By splitting this pair of games, the season series now stood at six wins apiece, unfathomable given the talent difference on the two rosters. By comparison, the Red Sox were 9-2 so far against Toronto.
“Some clubs you beat, some clubs you don’t beat,” Billy Martin said, offering an off-handed response to a question regarding the surprising difficulty New York had had with Toronto.
Sparky Lyle, who pitched in both games with opposing results, said, “They’re aggressive at bat. They don’t have anything to lose. Make a mistake and they hit the hell out of it.”
The Yankees fell behind 2-0 on Ron Fairly’s homer in the first inning of the opener and you started to wonder if the Jays were going to pull off another rout on par with what took place the day before. Instead, a pair of two-out walks led to a RBI single by Chris Chambliss in the bottom of the inning that seemed to settle the Yankees. From there, Reggie Jackson hit a two-run homer in the third, and Mickey Rivers delivered a RBI single in the fourth and that was just enough for Dick Tidrow and Lyle.
In the nightcap, the Yankees were trailing 2-1 when Toronto erupted for three in the seventh. Starter Don Gullett loaded the bases on two walks and a single, so Martin brought in Lyle even though he’d pitched two innings in the first game. Lyle immediately got Doug Ault to ground to Willie Randolph at second for what should have been an easy force at home, but Randolph booted it and two runs scored. Ex-Yankee Otto Velez followed with a bloop double to make it 5-1, prompting Lyle to say, “It was a disaster all right. No doubt about that.”
Lyle got into trouble again in the eighth and gave up a walk and two hits which made it 6-1, and that provided the Blue Jays enough of a cushion to withstand New York’s three-run rally in the bottom half which, in the end, was still disappointing. The first four men reached base against starter Pete Vuckovich – Jackson walked, Chambliss singled, Lou Piniella hit a RBI single, and Cliff Johnson laced a two-run double that made it 6-4. However, reliever Jerry Johnson retired Randolph, and after walking Thurman Munson, he lucked out when Rivers’ line drive to first was caught by Ault, who then doubled up Munson.
Comments