After spending 3 ½ months with the AL East lead and after spending all of September tied or a game up over the Orioles, finally it was time for the Yankees fall out of first place. Baltimore had already won on the afternoon and the Yankees were down 5-1 in the seventh inning. Things weren't looking too good for New York, and then suddenly, they did.
The Yankees rallied from behind, scoring four runs to tie the game in the seventh, then took the lead for good in the eighth inning as they beat the Toronto Blue Jays 9-6 to remain tied with the Orioles for first place in the division.
"Tonight was a season-defining game for us," New York's Nick Swisher said to the Associated Press. "We could have gone down big like that and just packed it in, but that's not this team's M.O. That's not how we approach it."
New York has overcome four-run deficits to win twice in a nine-game span for the second time this season, according to STATS LLC.
"Every game feels like it's a playoff game right now," Russell Martin said. "That's our attitude."
Although the Yankees blew a 10-game division lead, they have still yet gone to bed in second place. They have either been tied for first place or held a lead over Baltimore since Sept. 2. The Yankees clinched a playoff spot with the win, as did the Orioles, who defeated the Boston red Sox 6-3.
The Yankees still have a chance to earn the American's League's best record, sitting one game behind Texas (93-66), for the number one spot.
New York will head home for three games against the Red Sox to finish the season, while Baltimore will visit the Tampa Bay Rays. The Orioles clinched their first playoff berth since 1997.
"They would like nothing better than to spoil our season," Martin said of the Red Sox. "Us knowing that, I don't think anybody is going to take them lightly."
The Yankees are fighting off history to win the division. The team had a 10-game lead in the AL East in mid-July and they have never failed to win the division during a season in which they led at some point by at least 6 ½ games, according to ESPN.com.
"This team wants to win a division," Swisher said. "That's it. I don't ever think in the history of Yankee baseball we've shot for the wild card. That's not how we get down over here. This city, this team expects to win and that's what I expect us to go out and do."
The Blue Jays took a 5-1 lead in the fifth inning, scoring runs off Phil Hughes in the first and fifth.
"It was a bad day," Hughes said. "Fortunately the guys battled back and we got a win, which we really needed."
Eric Chavez hit a solo home run in the second to cut it to 2-1, but the Blue Jays padded the lead on third baseman Brett Lawrie's two-run home run and an RBI single from Moises Sierra. In the sixth Robinson Cano scored on a wild pitch to bring the score to 5-2 before the wild seventh inning.
"It seemed liked we just kept at it, kept at it, kept picking away," manager Joe Girardi said.
Ichiro Suzuki hit a sacrifice fly, Cano added an RBI double and Aaron Loup threw a wild pitch, allowing Alex Rodriqguez to score and tie the game at 5-5. In the next inning, Toronto reliever Darren Oliver put Curtis Granderson on base after a walk, and then gave up a single to Raul Ibanez. Martin hit a sacrifice and Eduardo Nunez drove in the go-ahead run before Derek Jeter hit a single to push the lead to 7-5.
Cano has been extremely hot lately, hitting .576 over his last 28 at-bats.
"I thought it was important that we continue to fight and came back, but all the games are the same now," Jeter said to ESPN.com. "Every single game is big. If you ask me tomorrow, I'll say the same thing."
Granderson extended the lead in the ninth with a two-run single. Rafael Soriano entered the game for the Yankees and loaded the bases with no outs before battling back and finishing the game off. The Jays scored one run by grounding into a double play, but were finished after Adam Lind grounded out.
Granderson reached 100 RBIs for the second straight season and Jeter added three more hits to his league-leading total of 213.
The Yankees clinched their 17th postseason appearance in 18 years. The team also got good news on the injury front; first baseman Mark Texeira is expected to return on Monday after missing time due to a strained calf.
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