It wasn’t the solitary blow that drove the New York Yankees to their 8-4 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday afternoon, but Robinson Cano placed himself in some tremendous company with a 3rd-inning, 3-run home run.
DON'T YA KNOW! Robinson Cano hits 200th career home run, a 3-run blast vs. Blue Jays. He's the 14th 2B to reach that mark.
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) August 20, 2013
With apologies for the hilarious/terrible reference to begin that Tweet, Cano’s 200th home run is a big-time accomplishment. He has been absolutely tremendous this year with a .307/.390/.510 slash line and 23 home runs, but this type of career accomplishment speaks to just how fantastic he has been for a period of years.
In addition to Cano’s home run, he finished off a 4-for-4 day that also included an RBI double in the 7th inning that extended New York’s lead to an insurmountable 7-4. The offense was late to bloom for the Yankees on the day, but 8 runs in their final 6 at-bats was more than enough to push Ivan Nova to a win, even on a day where he struggled.
Speaking of Nova, he threw 6.1 innings while allowing 4 runs on 11 baserunners (9 hits, 2 walks), but yet again, he did enough to get the pitcher win. That brings his total to 7 on the season in just 13 starts, and he has been a revelation for a struggling New York rotation.
With the win, the Yankees climb within 7.5 games of the division-leading Red Sox and 6 games of the 2nd Wild Card spot in the American League while they await game 2 of their day-night doubleheader with Toronto. It hasn’t been a storybook campaign for the Bronx Bombers, but they are still alive and kicking thanks, in part, to the greatness of Robinson Cano.