New York Yankees 3 – Toronto Blue Jays 2
The Yankees went north of the border to face a division rival, the Toronto Blue Jays.
Masahiro Tanaka came to the mound in Toronto and struggled, to say the least. In the first inning, Tanaka struggled to finish off batters. While walking two in a scoreless first inning, Tanaka used 29 pitches. Three of his first five batters went to a full count.
After a scoreless first inning against Blue Jays’ starter Aaron Sanchez, Brian McCann led off the second inning with a walk. After the first out, Chase Headley worked a walk and Sanchez made an errant pickoff throw to second base, allowing McCann and Headley to advance a base. Starlin Castro brought home McCann on a ground out and put the Yankees ahead.
In the second inning, Tanaka continued building his pitch count at a bad pace, going to two full counts in the scoreless inning. In the third inning, Tanaka began by hitting a batter. Josh Donaldson followed with a single and the feared Jays lineup struck when Jose Bautista hit a fly ball to center field, misplayed by Jacoby Ellsbury, for a two-run double to turn the Yankees one-run lead into a one-run deficit. An efficient seven-pitch fourth inning kept Tanaka in tonight’s game and a scoreless fifth inning ended a gritty effort that severely lacked command for the Yankees’ number one starter.
In five innings, Masahiro Tanaka allowed two runs on three hits. He walked four and struck out six. He needed 92 pitches, 54 strikes.
Aaron Sanchez kept the Yankees to one run on a ground out until the sixth inning. With two outs, Brian McCann came through with a line drive over the wall in right center, his second of the year, tying the game at 2.
In the seventh inning, reliever Brett Cecil struggled out of the gate for the Jays. Chase Headley started with a single to left field. He advanced after Starlin Castro walked and Didi Gregorius dropped a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners into scoring position. With the infield drawn in, Jacoby Ellsbury blooped a single in front of the outfield to put the Yankees ahead late in the game.
After a scoreless inning by Johnny Barbato, Chasen Shreve added 2/3 of an inning scoreless before leaving the game after a walk of Donaldson. Dellin Betances came in to face Jose Bautista and froze the Jays slugger with a breaking ball for called strike three.
Betances added two more strikeouts in the eighth inning and bridged the game to the closer, Andrew Miller. The lefty half of the dynamic duo struck out two in a scoreless ninth inning, locking up the win for the Yankees.
Win – Johnny Barbato (1-0)
Loss – Brett Cecil (0-2)
Save – Andrew Miller (2)
Notables
Yankees
*Brian McCann – 2 for 3, 2 R, BB, Solo home run (2) in the 6th, RBI (4)
*Jacoby Ellsbury – 2 for 5, RBI (5)
Blue Jays
*Jose Bautista – 1 for 3, BB, 2B, 2 RBI (6)
*Kevin Pillar – 1 for 3, R
Current Yankees Record: 4-2
