Toronto Blue Jays 2 – New York Yankees 0
The Yankees were unable to spark an offense in the series finale against the Blue Jays.
Masahiro Tanaka started today’s game with a strikeout of Troy Tulowitzki but he could not get strike one by the next batter, Josh Donaldson. On the first pitch fastball to Donaldson, the Blue Jays third baseman turned it the other way and put it into the Yankees’ bullpen in right center field for a solo home run.
The Yankees managed three hits in yesterday’s game and today had a similar feel to it.
Against Marco Estrada, the Yankees were held hitless until Carlos Beltran hit a single with two outs in the second inning. In the third inning, Didi Gregorius reached with a single to left field and advanced to second base on a sacrifice by Stephen Drew. The lineup turned over but the offense could not be found as Jacoby Ellsbury popped out and Brett Gardner grounded out to strand Gregorius on second base.
After Tanaka surrendered his second solo home run, this one to left field by Jose Bautista; one of the Yankees’ best opportunities came in the fourth inning.
After the first out in the fourth inning, Estrada walked Mark Teixeira and Brian McCann on eight straight balls. Carlos Beltran got ahead in the count before chasing a third ball and grounding into an inning-ending double play on the next pitch, ending the threat and the inning.
Masahiro Tanaka retired the next eight batters after the fourth inning home run by Bautista and exited the game on a high note, despite exiting with a deficit. In six innings, Masahiro Tanaka allowed two runs on three hits without a walk and five strikeouts.
After the sixth inning, Adam Warren came on for the seventh inning and did not have his best stuff out of the bullpen. Jose Bautista welcomed Warren into the game with a line drive single over the ducking reliever. Dioner Navarro walked and Chris Colabello was hit directly on the elbow pad to load the bases with no one out. Warren was replaced with Justin Wilson in an unenviable situation.
With the bases loaded and no one out, Justin Wilson came up huge. Pounding the strike zone with fastball after fastball, Wilson started his appearance by striking out Justin Smoak and pinch-hitter Cliff Pennington. He got Kevin Pillar to fly out to right field and put out the biggest fire he could have walked into to keep the game well within reach.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Carlos Beltran was walked with one out and Chase Headley hit a single to put two on base. LaTroy Hawkins came in and got a fortunate case of luck when Didi Gregorius lined out to Josh Donaldson with the infield shifted. Stephen Drew struck out and another prime scoring opportunity produced no runs.
The Yankees provided three scoreless innings out of the bullpen but the Blue Jays matched that with 2 2/3 perfect, as the Yankees only mustered three hits for the second time in two days.
Including yesterday’s game, this is the first time the Yankees were shutout in consecutive games since 1999.
The @Yankees played a ridiculous 2,665 games between instances of back-to-back shutouts. That’s an @MLB record. pic.twitter.com/UZubkM349o
— MLB Stat of the Day (@MLBStatoftheDay) August 9, 2015
Win – Marco Estrada (10-6)
Loss – Masahiro Tanaka (8-5)
Save – Roberto Osuna (10)
Notables
Blue Jays
*Josh Donaldson – 2 for 4, R, Solo home run (31) in the 1st, RBI (83)
*Jose Bautista – 2 for 4, R, Solo home run (26) in the 4th, RBI (78)
Yankees
*Didi Gregorius – 1 for 2
*Carlos Beltran – 1 for 3
Current Yankees Record: 61-49
