It is going to be an all-out battle between the Yankees and Blue Jays down the stretch. Last weekend the Blue Jays took advantage of a slumping Yankees lineup, but the Yanks got a bit of redemption this weekend by taking 2 of 3 in Toronto. RJ Loubier (@ThoseRJs) joined me to discuss the Yankees falling out of first place and then regaining the division lead. We also discussed injury news on Pineda, the Greg Bird call up, and read a mailbag submission.
After the rough weekend vs Toronto in which they got swept, the Yankees went to Cleveland looking to get back on track. Things just got worse for the Yankees — the bats continued to slump, Miller blew his first save, and the Yankees fell out of first place. They escaped Cleveland with an 8-6 win, which featured a 3 run HR from McCann and rookie prospect Greg Bird in the lineup.
The Yankees then went into Toronto down a half-game in the standings for the first time since July 1. The Jays had not lost since the trade deadline and were playing with confidence in front of a packed house (sidenote- looooooot of bandwagoners up in Toronto). Eight innings into game 1 it looked like the Yankees were going to drop another game but a HUGE pinch-hit 3 run bomb from Beltran, perhaps the biggest hit of his Yankees career and biggest hit of the Yankees season, gave them the lead. Miller shut the door by getting Tulo in a 12 pitch battle.
Game 2 was all Tanaka, who went the full 9 innings. He was the ace the Yankees needed and fans have been waiting for all season. The 4-1 victory won the Yankees the series, something that didn’t look possible a few days ago. Severino made his 3rd career start and was snake-bitten by a ball that Beltran lost in the sun. RJ and I both thought it was a bad break but Severino should have been able to pitch his way out of the inning. We would like to see the rookie be more mentally tough in those situations.
Shout out to Alex (@brotron) for the mailbag submission. If you want to get involved with the show you can submit mailbag questions, comments, rants, etc. HERE. Or call the voice mail line at 646-480-0342. You can also hit us up on @BronxPinstripes, #YankeesChat, and Instagram with questions.
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