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Series Recap
·3 min read

Series Recap: Blue Jays leave Yankees stranded

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During their series against the Toronto Blue Jays, the New York Yankees had a plethora of opportunities to pile on the offense. Yet, save for one game, their offense mostly stalled with runners on base and in scoring position.

GAME 1

Attempting to keep momentum churning, the Yankees hit a bit of a stumbling block and were doubled up by the Blue Jays, by a final count of 4-2.

DONALDSON DINGERS

There must be something about being an AL East third baseman and facing the Yankees. Even Josh Donaldson, mired in an off season by his standards, was able to tee off on CC Sabathia. Sabathia, normally good on the road this season, was victimized by the Jays third baseman on a pair of two-run taters during the first and third innings respectively.

Sabathia would only last three frames after tweaking his knee.

COOP THERE IT IS

Garrett Cooper accounted for the New York offense, pulling the club within one on an RBI-single to right in the second. Cooper would also record a sac fly RBI during the eighth.

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Unfortunately, the rest of the offense would strand 10 runners.

MITCHELL MARVELS

Aside from the tricky turf, Bryan Mitchell was a life saver for the Yankee pen and kept the game close. Mitchell tossed four scoreless frames in relief of Sabathia.

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GAME 2

During the second game, the Yankees improved their MLB-best record to 17-0 when homering three or more times in a game. While the pitching staff made it dicey at points, the offense piled on for an 11-5 victory.

SOLO SLUGGERS

One way to avoid stranding runners on base is to smack the ball out of the park. The Bronx Bombers tagged Blue Jays starter Nick Tepesch three times in as many innings.

Gary Sanchez and Todd Frazier connected on consecutive clouts during the second. Didi Gregorius would go yard in the third.

DOUBLE TROUBLE

After Toronto pulled within 3-2, a two-run double by Frazier, followed by an RBI-double by Jacoby Ellsbury, boosted the Yankees advantaged to 6-2 in the fifth.

TANAKA TROUBLED

Manager Joe Girardi wasn’t messing around when he pulled Masahiro Tanaka in the fifth. Although he only allowed two earned runs and two hits, five walks and a high pitch count eventually sabotaged Tanaka.

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PEN UP AND DOWN

Chad Green fanned the side after entering for Tanaka in the fifth. Yet, he ran into trouble after a Ryan Goins RBI-double in the sixth. The usually accurate Tommy Kahnle uncorked a wild pitch, issued his first walk as a Yankee and yielded an RBI-single to Donaldson before whiffing Justin Smoak to preserve the lead.

From there, David Robertson, Dellin Betances and Adam Warren carried the Yankees home with three scoreless frames.

EXTRA SUPPORT

Also helpful was the extra offense supplied by the Yanks bats. A two-run single by Ronald Torreyes, gave New York an 8-5 advantage in the eighth.

Cooper capped off the scoring with a two-run single in the ninth. Considering how he wasn’t even slated to start, the rookie first baseman collected four hits in an impressive evening.

GAME 3

In their series finale, the Yankees simply couldn’t cash in with runners in scoring position in their 4-0 loss to the Blue Jays. New York bats went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left 11 men on base.

SONNY STUMPED

Once again Sonny Gray was left with zero support. Gray wasn’t perfect but he gave his squad an opportunity to win with six K’s and two earned runs across six frames.

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ON DECK

At 60-53, the Yankees play host to the Boston Red Sox in a three-game series starting Friday night.

Pitching probables Eduardo Rodriguez vs. Jaime Garcia, Drew Pomeranz vs. Luis Severino, Chris Sale vs. Jordan Montgomery.