Colon strikes out seven, picks up first win as Yankees beat Blue Jays 6-2

Consider this my official truce with the Kreme. Bartolo Colon continued his resurgent season Wednesday night with a dominant start in Toronto. Bartolo allowed only five hits with two walks over 6.2 innings of work, giving up just two runs while striking out seven. He was efficient, throwing only 89 pitches, and showed strong command of those pitches. His fastball topped out at around 93mph, with late movement in the zone and he complemented it with swing and miss breaking stuff. Colon only got himself into trouble in the seventh inning, and had retired twelve consecutive Blue Jays at one point in the game.

The Yankees also got it done on the offensive side of the ledger. Coming into the game Mark Teixeira had a .176 BABIP, which was clearly due for an upward regression. He got that, in a big way, with three doubles, getting hits from both the right and left sides of the plate. Alex Rodriguez saw his first action since leaving Sunday´s game with an oblique strain. Alex knocked in a run with a sac fly and drew two walks on the night. Curtis Granderson rounded out a balanced Yankee attack with a solo homer in the ninth, his sixth, and the Yankees first of the game. Granderson is now batting .272/.322/.691 on the season.

Blue Jay starter Brett Cecil was knocked around. He gave up five runs and four walks in only five innings of work. Normally Cecil has all the makings of a pitcher who will shut down the Yankees. He´s left handed. He´s young. He throws nothing but slow, late breaking junk. Last season this would have meant the Yankees would have managed only three hits and maybe one run over eight solid innings, but on Wednesday night the Yankees were knocking Cecil around en route to a strong victory.

Things got a little interesting in the bottom of the ninth. Mariano Rivera and Joba Chamberlain were not available, so Joe Girardi needed to turn to new-comber Lance Pendleton to get through the final inning. Pendleton looked shaky at best, allowing a hit and a walk before Rafael Soriano came on to shut the door. Soriano walked the first batter he faced before getting two fly ball outs to end the game.

The Yankees are off tomorrow. Friday the Bombers are back in action against Baltimore. Earlier this season the O´s were surprising everyone, but have struggled to an 8-9 record on the season. CC Sabathia takes the mound for the Yankees. Baltimore counters the big guy with Brad Bergesen.