The New York Yankees came into Toronto on a roll against a struggling Toronto Blue Jays squad. So, naturally, the Yankees got tangled up and tripped up and couldn’t get out of their own way at Toronto. Despite dropping two of three, New York was able to salvage the series finale with ease.
GAME 1
In a frustrating 4-3 loss, the Yankees dropped consecutive games for the first time since a mini-sweep at Arizona. New York was only 1-for-12 with RISP. Angel Hernandez didn’t help behind home plate. Masahiro Tanaka didn’t help his own cause either.
LE GRANDE ORANGE
Clint Frazier let his bat do the talking Tuesday against Clayton Richard. After Aaron Hicks reached on a double to right, with one down, Frazier jacked a two-run tater to left. The fourth inning home run provided the Bronx Bombers a 2-0 advantage.
FIFTH FRAME FAIL
For the third time this season, Tanaka had an outing where it only took one inning to completely torpedo his performance. During the fifth inning, Randal Grichuk smacked a solo homer off a slider to center. Cavan Biggio walked and with one out stole second base. Freddy Galvis followed by swatting another flat slider out of the yard to right-center. With two down, Eric Sogard doubled to right and was plated on a single to left by Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
TO THE STICKS
New York inched back in the eighth inning. Hicks crushed a 2-1 four-seam fastball from Joe Biagini to right, pulling the Bronx Bombers within one.
Yet, in the ninth, the Yankees got two runners on base but couldn’t scratch out another run against Ken Giles.
GAME 2
This was a total team loss if there ever was one. Starting pitching was stagnant. The bullpen was leaky. In the field, the club made three errors. At least the Yankees were 4-for-9 with RISP but it was all for naught in an 11-7 loss.
JAYS JAB JAMES
The last time James Paxton pitched at Toronto, he pitched a no-hitter. This time around the Yankee southpaw toiled.
Grichuk was back at it with a two-run homer to right-center in the first frame. During the second stanza, Teoscar Hernandez doubled to left and was singled home by Cavan Biggio.
Paxton’s night was capped off after a one-out walk to Lourdes Gurriel Jr., a single by Guerrero Jr., coupled with a bad bounce error on the throw to first by Gio Urshela, enabled Gurriel Jr. to score in the fifth.
THUMP, CHIP, THUMP
After being no-hit the first 3.2 frames by Trent Thornton, New York hit back.
Gary Sanchez lifted the Bronx Bombers off the deck, pelting a solo shot to left-center in the fourth. Sanchez eclipsed his home run total from 2018 with home run No. 19 on the campaign.
In the fifth, RBI-singles from Cameron Maybin, DJ LeMahieu and Sanchez provided the Yankees with their first lead at 4-3.
During the sixth, with two aboard, meaning RISP, LeMahieu broke the law with a three-run laser to left off Derek Law and New York regained the lead at 7-4.
THE UNRAVELING
The Blue Jays didn’t score during the sixth inning but a botched call on a double-play, coupled with the Yankees already having lost their challenge on a Brett Gardner groundout to first in the third inning, meant more pitches for Adam Ottavino and Tommy Kahnle.
Hence, Jonathan Holder was summoned in the seventh inning. Holder couldn’t pitch around an errant throw by Gleyber Torres, on a ball hit to shortstop by Guerrero Jr. With one down Holder hit Grichuk. Following the second out, Hernandez smacked a tw0-run double to right, trimming the New York lead to one.
During the eighth, Zack Britton yielded a three-run bomb to straightaway center to Guerrero Jr., which gave the Jays a 9-7 edge.
With two down, Luis Cessa allowed two consecutive home runs to Grichuk and Brandon Drury, making it 11-7.
GAME 3
The lineup took out its frustrations on Edwin Jackson and despite the annoyance of having to use Aroldis Chapman in a five-run game, it was a relative breeze for the Yankees. New York was able to salvage the series with a 6-2 victory.
SECOND INNING SURGE
The looked primed to pop off in the fist but saved the big hits for the second.
Thairo Estrada reached on throwing error by Guerrero Jr. which hit Estrada in the helmet and opened the flood gates with two outs.
Maybin followed with a single to left.
The ensuing batter LeMahieu rocked an RBI-single to center.
After that, Hicks demolished a first-pitch fastball to right and the Bronx Bombers went up 4-0.
FINISHING TOUCHES
Urshela didn’t waste any time against his former teammates in the fourth. The third baseman clocked a 1-2 fastball to left, increasing the New York lead to 5-0.
A Maybin one-out double to center, followed by an RBI-single to center by LeMahieu had the Yankees up 6-0.
BORING HAPP IS FUN HAPP
J.A. Happ looked like the 2018 version and lulled his ex-mates to sleep. The southpaw went deep with seven strong innings on his ledger, yielding four hits, one run, fanning four. A home run by Sogard in the sixth was the lone blip on Happ’s outing.
ON DECK
At 39-22, the Yankees shift to Cleveland to take on the Cleveland Indians for a three-game series starting Friday evening.
Pitching probables, Domingo German vs. Zach Plesac, CC Sabathia vs. Adam Plutko, Masahiro Tanaka vs. Shane Bieber.
