TORONTO — Jose Caballero spent Sunday finding every possible way to affect a baseball game. By the end of the afternoon, he had helped the Yankees avoid a sweep, irritated the Blue Jays again and turned a routine sacrifice fly into another chapter of an increasingly testy division rivalry.
The Yankees needed that kind of disruption. Their offense had produced one run over the first two games at Rogers Centre, and Aaron Boone followed through on his promise to alter the lineup by sitting struggling second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. and starting Caballero. Ben Rice also moved into the leadoff spot.
Caballero responded in a 4-3, 10-inning Yankees victory that stopped a two-game skid. He reached without swinging at a strike, stole a base, scored New York’s first run and delivered the go-ahead hit in the seventh. He also tried to manufacture another run through a prolonged rundown that replay ultimately erased.
Then came the ninth inning. Toronto tied the game on Ernie Clement’s sacrifice fly, but the play drew attention for something that did not appear in the box score: Caballero positioned himself near third base and tried to interfere with runner Josh Smith’s view of center fielder Trent Grisham making the catch.
Two challenges start Caballero’s day of chaos
Sunday’s latest episode began much earlier. Leading off the third against Dylan Cease, Caballero successfully challenged two consecutive called strikes through MLB’s automated ball-strike challenge system. Both calls were overturned to balls, helping him draw a four-pitch walk.
Caballero advanced to second on a groundout, stole third for his 30th stolen base of the season and scored on Luis García Jr.’s sacrifice fly. The sequence gave the Yankees a 1-0 lead without Caballero putting a ball in play.
The Yankees had given Caballero only his second start since rookie George Lombard Jr. arrived on Aug. 4. Boone said afterward that the utilityman supplied exactly the spark New York wanted.
“Certainly hoping for [a spark], and he was good,” Boone said. “Obviously good defense, but a big hit for us, a big walk, a [steal] to set up the first run, drove in the next run. … A lot of really good things by him and a big difference in the game today.”
Caballero said his approach is built around finding small advantages.
“I always try to help my team in any way possible and see any opportunity that is out there to take advantage of,” Caballero said. “I was able to take third base on him and make it easier for my teammate behind me to drive me in.”
Go-ahead hit turns into baserunning gamble
Caballero delivered again in the seventh. With the game tied 1-1, two outs and runners at first and second, he lined Brendon Little’s pitch into left field to score Lombard and put the Yankees ahead 2-1.
The play immediately became more complicated. Caballero was caught between first and second and intentionally extended the rundown while Chisholm, who had entered as a pinch runner, raced home. Chisholm initially appeared to score, but replay showed Caballero had been tagged before the run crossed the plate.
Caballero said the rundown became an improvised attempt to salvage an extra run after he realized he had committed too late toward second.
“I already messed it up — I think I decided to go to second a little late, so in my head, I was like, ‘Let me stay in the rundown, maybe I can get an extra run out of it,’ ” Caballero said. “That was the plan after I got caught in between. I tried my best, and it almost worked out, but it didn’t.”
Blue Jays object to Caballero’s ninth-inning gamesmanship
The tactic did not stop Smith from tagging and scoring, but it drew a sharp reaction on the Toronto broadcast. Sportsnet analyst Joe Siddall characterized Caballero’s positioning in blunt terms.
“Just a dirty little tactic used by some players in the game, not all,” Siddall said.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider also noticed the play. His response after the game was brief and pointed.
“Yeah, I saw it,” Schneider said. “You don’t see it very often.”
Asked whether he wanted to say more, Schneider answered, “nope.”
Smith viewed the incident differently. The Toronto runner acknowledged that Caballero was trying to obstruct his sightline, but said the tactic belonged within normal baseball gamesmanship.
“I don’t think that’s a bad thing, I think it’s just part of the game. I do it sometimes, too,” Smith said.
Smith went further, calling Caballero’s move a smart play rather than something objectionable.
“I think it’s a heads-up play by him, so I don’t have anything against it,” Smith said. “Maybe not as close as he was to me, but I definitely do it.”
The disagreement was notable because Caballero and Toronto already had history. On June 14 at Rogers Centre, his effort to stretch the pitch-timer rules led to a lengthy discussion with umpires and a warning for intentionally delaying the game. Schneider later complained about the amount of attention the episode received and said Caballero “seems to have a problem with the pitch clock.”
Yankees escape Toronto with Caballero back in spotlight
The Yankees still needed extra innings. Toronto tied the score in the ninth, and Rice answered his own defensive mistake by hitting a two-run homer in the 10th. The Blue Jays scored once in the bottom half before Tim Hill closed the 4-3 win.
David Bednar earned the victory after pitching 1 2/3 innings, while Braydon Fisher took the loss. Hill recorded his second save. The Yankees improved to 69-55 and avoided being swept before an off day and a three-game series at Baltimore beginning Tuesday.
For Boone, Caballero’s performance also created a lineup question. Chisholm entered Sunday hitting .216 with a .683 OPS, though Boone said he expected him “to be back in there regularly.” Caballero’s rare start produced two of the Yankees’ first two runs and another reminder of the unusual pressure he can create.
It also ensured that when the Blue Jays visit Yankee Stadium beginning Friday, the conversation will extend beyond his bat. Toronto has now objected to Caballero’s tactics twice in two months, first around the pitch clock and now around third base. This time, even the Blue Jays player directly involved said the move was simply part of the game.
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