2000 Yankees Diary, April 29: Jays drop five on El Duque

Yahoo

10-05-2025

The last series the 2000 Yankees played against the Toronto Blue Jays did not go the way they expected to north of the border. Two losses in the first two games put them on the wrong end of the series result, but their second series against the American League East rival started much more to their liking. David Cone, who began the campaign in a very subpar manner including a poor outing in the prior series against the Jays, turned back the clock and helped shut them out in the first of three matchups.
With Orlando 'El Duque' Hernández on the mound for the pinstripes and Cone's old pal David Wells toeing the slab for Toronto, it was set to be an exciting matchup in the middle of the three-game Bronx showdown.
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April 29: Yankees 2, Blue Jays 6 (box score)
Record: 14-8 (0.5 GA in AL East)
El Duque worked through the top of the first inning with ease, gathering two strikeouts and executing a groundout that came back to him. The two hitters at the top of the Yankees' lineup — Chuck Knoblauch and Derek Jeter — followed the same fate, both grounding out to the left side of the infield, but Paul O'Neill kept the inning alive, singling to center field and promptly stealing second base on the second pitch of Bernie Williams' at-bat. On the 0-2 pitch, Williams knocked a single to center, scoring O'Neill and putting the Yankees up early.
Despite some trouble for both hurlers through the second and third innings, they were both able to work through unscathed. The second in particular saw a missed opportunity for the Yankees, as recently-recalled veteran Félix José — playing in his first big-league game in five years — mistakenly thought he saw a sign to steal and got thrown out to help snuff a rally sparked by Jorge Posada leadoff double. It was an unfortunate afternoon for José, who also suffered a groin injury on a fifth-inning single.
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In the top of the fourth, the visiting Jays struck against El Duque. Raúl Mondesí took an 0-1 pitch to right field and stole on the first pitch of the next at-bat. However, things went from bad to worse when Posada made a throwing error, moving Mondesí up to third and 90 feet away from tying the game. With no outs, a groundout sufficed, as Carlos Delgado grounded out to second base and scored the tying run as a result. El Duque worked two straight outs following the unearned run, but things were all square once again.
The middle of the Yankees' order all made contact but went down one-two-three in the bottom of the fourth, and despite two more singles, El Duque did not allow a run in the top of the fifth. With a double-play assist, the Yankees went down in order against Wells once again before the Blue Jays poured on a few more runs.
That was Boomer's last inning of the day despite just 66 pitches, as he wasn't fooling anyone and he knew it. In the postgame, he praised his defense, saying 'I was lucky as hell today ... 15 outs, 15 line drives. They made great plays behind me.'
Despite two outs to lead off the inning for Hernández, he was not able to close the top of the sixth inning without seeing some damage done on the scoreboard. Brad Fullmer singled to center field, and a Tony Batista line drive double scored Fulmer from first. Marty Cordova drew a walk in the following at-bat, and then another two-out double courtesy of Alex Gonzalez scored both runners, putting the Blue Jays up 4-1 before the inning ended.
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Wells was replaced on the mound for the bottom of the sixth and the Yankees went down against Paul Quantrill without much of a fight. Then, in the top of the seventh, the Blue Jays continued to hit the ball well, eventually forcing El Duque out of the game with a single and a sacrifice bunt, bringing in Mike Stanton. Stanton saw two batters and allowed them to reach base via a walk and a single, loading the bases. A Fullmer sacrifice fly scored a run to make the score 5-1 in favor of the visitors.
The bottom half of the Yankees lineup was able to get one run back in the bottom of the seventh, but Jason Grimsley, who finished the top of the sixth after Stanton's struggles, allowed another run following a strikeout and two singles in the top of the eighth.
The Yankees left three men on base in their final two chances to put runs on the board, but ultimately, they were not able to plate any runners, and the game finished 6-2 in favor of Toronto.
Read the full 2000 Yankees Diary series here.
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