Enter Sandman ... into the record books.
Mariano Rivera tied baseball's all-time record with his 601st career save to close out the New York Yankees' 7-6 victory over the host Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday.
Rivera pitched a perfect ninth inning to convert his 13th consecutive save and 42nd of the season to join Trevor Hoffman as the career saves leader. No other closer has reached 500 saves.
Alex Rodriguez hit a three-run homer and Curtis Granderson added a two-run shot as the Yankees erased a five-run deficit to win for the fourth time in 10 contests and move 4 1/2 games ahead of Boston atop the AL East. The Red Sox dropped a 4-3 decision to the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday.
Rodriguez's homer capped a four-run sixth and was the 629th of his career, putting him one behind Ken Griffey Jr. for fifth place on baseball's all-time list. It was his first start after missing six games with a sprained thumb.
Granderson joined Toronto's Jose Bautista as the only players in the majors with 40 homers with his two-run shot in the seventh off Carlos Villanueva (6-4) that put the Yankees ahead to stay 7-6.
Mike McCoy drove in three runs with a safety squeeze bunt and a two-run double and Colby Rasmus and Jose Molina added RBI doubles for the Blue Jays, who were unable to hold a 6-1 lead.
Yankees starter Bartolo Colon remained winless since July 30 after lasting only four innings and allowing six runs.
Jays rookie Henderson Alvarez surrendered five runs on nine hits in six innings.
NY Yankees | Toronto | |
Bartolo Colon | Player | Henderson Alvarez |
No Decision | W/L | No Decision |
4.0 | IP | 6.0 |
3 | Strikeouts | 1 |
7 | Hits | 9 |
13.50 | ERA | 7.50 |
NY Yankees | Toronto | |
Curtis Granderson | Player | Colby Rasmus |
3 | Hits | 2 |
2 | RBI | 1 |
1 | HR | 0 |
7 | TB | 3 |
1.000 | Avg | .500 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
NY Yankees | 11 | 2 | 21 | .314 | 13 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
Toronto | 7 | 0 | 10 | .219 | 8 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 2 |