Mariano Rivera was warming up in the bullpen 𓄧witꦓh the Yankees holding a two-run lead going into the ninth inning and the heart of the Orioles’ lineup approaching.
Still, Joe Girardi nไever considered summoning the closer to replace Ivan Nova, who had thrown 89 ꦦpitches through eight innings.
“There wasn’t anything I didn’t like,” Girardi said of his reasoning to keep Nova in the game.🌱 “And I liked what he did a🌜gainst the middle of the order.”
With much of the rotation faltering, Nova finished the job for𒉰 his first career shutout. The 2-0 victory at Yankee Stadium allowed the Yankees to pass Baltimore and move into third ෴place in the American League wild-card race.
The Yankees still trail Oakland and Tampa🐓 Bay, but it is something.
“It sure beats [chasing] four and five teams,” Girardi said. “Whi🍒c🌌h was what we were looking at.”
Nova has stunningly become the team’s most reliable starting pitcher, with𒐪 CC Sabathia and Hiroki Kuroda continuing to struggle and Andy Pettitte and Phil Hughes battling inconsisten♛cy.
The right-hander allow📖ed just three hits and a walk, striking out five. And he made Robinson Cano’s two RBIs stand up.
“He was spectacular,” Derek Je♐ter said. “You couldn’t ask him to do anything more. It was exactly what we needed him to do.”
The only time Baltimore got a runner in scoring position came in the second inning, when Nova hit Adam Jones and allowed a single to Matt Wieters. But he got Nick Markakis to ground into a double play and J.J. Hardy to fly o꧋ut to right.
Perhaps the most dramatic moment came with one out in the ninth. After he was unable to field Nate ꦏMcLouth’s comebacker, Nova faced Chris Davis with one out.
Davis, who leads the majors with 47 homers, sent a fly ball to right field. Ichi🧸ro Suzuki briefly turned around, as if he t𝄹hought the ball was going into the seats for a game-tying home run.
Ichiro, however, was simply fooling around.
“I was just having fun,” a chuckling Ichiro said through a translator. “If it looked like you were going to get it and then it went over th🐼e fence, fans wouldn’t be excited. But if fans thought, ‘Oh no’ and then you make the play, that’s exciting.”
Whe🐼n asked if he knew he was g༒oing to make the play, Ichiro answered in English: “Absolutely.”
Nova (8-4) said h𒆙e wasn’t thrown by Ichiro’s antics, since he could tell from Davis’ reaction that he got u🍬nder the ball.
Jones then lined out to Jeter to end the game.
Chris Stewart wasn’t surprised ♏by Gir🌱ardi’s decision to leave Nova in the game.
“He was ꧙still strong,” the catcher said. “He got a lot of swings and misses. This was definitely the best I’ve seen him.”
Though the Yankees’ resurgent offense has gotten several of the team’s starting pitchers off the hook, No꧋va got no such assistance. The Yankees scored just a first-inning run against Scott Feldman (4-4) and another in the eighth.
Brett Gardner hit a leadoff double in the bottom of the first and advanced to third on a Jeter groundout. Cano knocked in Gardner with another double to right, but the bats went silent for the next six innings — until Cano’s solo homer in the e൲ighth made it 2-0.
Today the Yankees will try to complete a three-game sweep of their AL Eaꦓst foes and inch closer to the playoffs. Until they get there, however, Stewart won’t be impressed.
“This means nothing,” Stewarꦅt said of passing the Orioles in the standings. “We’re still behind in the overall race. That’s all that matters.”