Four-Run 8th Energizes Yanks' Come From Behind Win Over The Jays

There's been a lot of talk around the Yankees lately about their lack of energy on the field.

Entering the 8th inning on a 16 inning scoreless streak, the Yankees' offense was hit by a bolt of lightning in what amounted to a four-run 8th inning that brought the Yanks back from a 3-0 hole to give them a 4-3 win over the Blue Jays Wednesday night in Toronto.

"This team never quits," said Yankees manager Joe Girardi. "We have a pretty mature group. They know what they have to do."

What was on the way to being another bad loss for the Yankees, a two-run double by Vernon Wells in the in the 8th inning gave the Bombers a lead they haven't seen in a long time.

Trailing 3-0 to open the 8th against J.A. Happ, who was entering the 8th inning as a starter for the first time since 2010, Brendan Ryan doubled to start the rally, then after a pitching change, Curtis Granderson singled to set up runners on the corners with nobody out.

Alex Rodriguez promptly struck out for the first out of the inning, then Robinson Cano singled past an outstretched glove at second base to put the Yanks on the board, 1-0 -- their first run in 16 innings in Toronto.

Alfonso Soriano followed Cano with a double to right field to score Granderson, pulling the Yankees within a run, moving Cano to third. That set up the chance for Wells to rip a double down the left field line to plate two runs and give the Yanks the lead.

Leading up to the 8th inning comeback, the Yankees had Phil Hughes on the mound, as well as David Huff, and the offense wasted several scoring chances early in the game against Happ -- including the first inning when they stranded runners on the corners.

Unlike most nights, Hughes wasn't even that bad on the mound, although his lease was extremely short in this outing. After three shutout innings, Hughes served up a two-run homerun to Colby Rasmus with one out in the 4th inning to give the Blue Jays a 2-0 lead.

Girardi was quickly out of the bullpen the take Hughes out of the game after giving up two runs on four hits over 3.1 innings. He brought in David Huff, and after retiring the first batter he faced, Ryan Goins took Huff deep for his first career homerun to extend the Jays' lead to 3-0.

"This time of the year, you can't really complain too much," Hughes said. "I know the situation I'm in and I'm trying to embrace it as much as I can."

In 3.2 inning, the homerun to Goins was the only run that Huff gave up, as well as the only hit, while not walking anyone and striking out three on 47 pitches in his near four innings of work.

With the newly given lead, Girardi called upon David Robertson to pitch the 8th inning, but after giving up a two-out single by Brett Lawrie, who would steal second base a couple pitches later, Girardi showed his lack of trust in Robertson by bringing in Mariano Rivera for the four-out save.

Things got really interesting in the 9th inning, though. Mariano let the first two hitters reach base, then a force out at first created the first out of the inning. After a groundout moved runners to second and third with two away, Rivera struck out J.P. Arencibia to end the game, snapping the Yanks' four-game losing skid.

"It looked like things were going in the same direction as they did [Tuesday]," said Wells, "That's what we are capable of doing. We needed a win, things have been ugly over the last few days.

"Hopefully this is something that can kick-start something special for us."

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