C.C. Sabathia has been on a bit of a roll lately. That roll continued Tuesday night.
Riding a streak of 20 innings where he’d given up just one earned run, Sabathia continued his hot pitching. Through six, Sabathia allowed just one run on a Justin Smoak solo shot. Toronto starter J.A. Happ matched him, also tossing six frames of one-run ball.
However, Edwin Encarnacion doubled off Sabathia to start the seventh and Dellin Betances came on in relief. After getting Smoak and Russell Martin out, Betances walked Devon Travis before allowing Kevin Pillar, who had robbed the Yankees of base hits all night long, to drive in the go-ahead run with a single. Betances ultimately gave up two more runs in the inning in his 26th appearance of the season.
The seventh spoiled what would have otherwise been another great start for Sabathia, whose ERA for the season still sits at a sparkling 2.85.
THE PLAY: KEVIN PILLAR SINGLES IN THE GO-AHEAD RUN (+.218 WPA)
Pillar jumped on Betances quickly, driving an 0-1 fastball to the opposite field. During the next at-bat, with Darwn Barney up, Piller stole second base and ultimately came around to score the final run on Barney’s two-run single.
TOP PERFORMERS
Yankees — Chase Headley: 2-for-4, 1 R
Blue Jays — J.A. Happ: 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 3 K
NOTES
— Despite Betances’ heavy usage this season, he has been pretty effective for the most part. The two runs he gave up in the seventh were his first in his last seven innings and first since his May 15 appearance against the White Sox.
— The Yankees’ offense continued to struggle Tuesday night as it was stymied all night long by Happ, New York mustered just 6 hits on the evening, and Joe Biagini, Jesse Chavez and Roberto Osuna combined for three scoreless innings in relief.
— Chase Headley had the Yankees’ only extra-base hit on the night, a double off Happ in the second. After starting the season with a brutal extra-base hitless stretch, including at one point being surpassed by Bartolo Colon, Headley has rebounded nicely over his past couple games.
THE HIGHLIGHT: KEVIN PILLAR MAKES A FULL-EXTENSION CATCH
Even though this isn’t a Yankees highlight, Pillar’s catch was by far the best play of the night. Austin Romine lined a pitch into what appeared to be the right-center gap, but Kevin Pillar, who made a running catch at the warning track earlier in the same inning, left his feet to rob Romine and the Yankees of an opportunity to break the game open. Pillar’s go-ahead single, which came a few innings later, was just icing on the cake.
UP NEXT
The Yankees wrap up their series with Toronto as they try to avoid the sweep. Masahiro Tanaka takes the mound for New York (3-0, 2.89 ERA) and will be opposed by Aaron Sanchez (4-1, 3.29 ERA).
Photo: Nick Turchiaro / USATSI; Videos: MLBAM