Toronto's Randy Ruiz celebrates with teammate Rod Barajas early on in Sunday's game. (Frank Gunn/Canadian Press)The Toronto Blue Jays won big over the New York Yankees at the Rogers Centre on Sunday, coming out with a 14-8 victory, but it was marred by what happened to first-baseman Randy Ruiz, as he was hit square in the face by a pitch and had to leave the game.
It came while the Jays were breaking the game wide open in the fifth inning. Toronto and New York were exchanging the lead until then, when the Blue Jays scored eight runs to take a commanding 12-5 lead.
"It got me in the face," Ruiz said. "I thought it could be worse than it was. It's a little swollen right now. I'll be in there tomorrow, hopefully.
Former Toronto pitcher Josh Towers was just inserted into the game by the Yankees, who pulled starter Sergio Mitre and then reliever Mark Melancon after neither could stem the Blue Jay onslaught. Ruiz was at the plate with the bases loaded and two out.
Three pitches into Towers's first major league action in two years, he lost control of a fastball that Ruiz lost in the sun. The pitch caught Ruiz flush in the left cheek, and trainers and doctors rushed out to tend to the injured Jays slugger.
Ruiz looked dazed and was visibly spitting up blood but left to the clubhouse under his own power.
"Something like this is scary but it's part of the game," said Ruiz. "I don't think he did it on purpose."
Ruiz is one of the very few feel-good late season stories for the Jays since he was called up from triple-A, hitting six homers with 11 RBI in 20 games.
"You just hope he's going to be okay and it's not something serious that could end his career," Toronto manager Cito Gaston said. "Because he had his hand up around his eye when I got there and I was thinking, 'Man, I hope he`s okay.'
"He's trying to establish himself and play in the big leagues for a while. You hate to see that happen to him."
Bad defence
The incident capped what could be one of the league-leading Yankees' worst defensive performances in recent memory. It was perfectly punctuated by a collision between left-fielder Johnny Damon and Melky Cabrera during a pop fly in the sixth, which left the latter dazed.
Four New York errors didn't help starter Sergio Mitre (3-2), who left the game in the fifth after giving up 11 runs (nine earned) on 10 hits, ballooning his earned-run average to 7.02.
The Jays are the only team to beat Mitre this season.
Brian Tallet (6-9) picked up the win for Toronto but was hardly impressive, giving up five runs on eight hits through five innings.
All the Jays had to do was take advantage of the Yankee implosions, and to Toronto's credit, they did just that, leading to runs in the first, third, fifth and sixth innings.
Toronto's Aaron Hill had three runs batted-in while Ruiz and Edwin Encarnacion had two.
"It happens sometimes to the best of teams," Gaston said. "Teams that win, it doesn't happen to them too often. The teams that lose, it happens a little bit more often.
"It finally went our way today."
New York shortstop Derek Jeter came closer to breaking Yankee great Lou Gehrig's team hit record. He went 3-for-3, and now has 2,717 hits, four shy of the legend's mark.
Toronto (61-75) hosts Minnesota next in a four-game series while the Yankees (87-49) head home themselves for a four-game set against Tampa Bay.
