The Yankees fell to the Toronto Blue Jays 11-3 on Wednesday night in Tampa, Fla.
Here are some key takeaways …
– The Yankees entered Wednesday’s game with arguably their best offensive lineup. Gleyber Torres was back at shortstop and Isiah Kiner-Falefa was placed on the bench.
– Aaron Boone could be tipping his hand with his lineup orientation. Josh Donaldson was penciled into the first spot in the order, and has led off each of his last three spring appearances.
– Donaldson broke open the scoring in the bottom of the third after he laced an RBI double into left-center field scoring Kyle Higashioka. Donaldson would finish 2-3 on the night.
– Southpaw JP Sears replaced Yankees farmhand Manny Banuelos in the fourth inning after he threw three scoreless frames.
The Blue Jays immediately tied the game at 1-1 on a Cavan Biggio sacrifice fly and later broke open the scoring when Santiago Espinal cracked a three-run homer to left-center giving Toronto a 4-1 lead.
– Aroldis Chapman took the mound in the sixth inning. Chapman sat at 97 mph on his heater in his lone inning of work. The Yankees’ closer struck out two in a scoreless frame.
– Boone’s lineup didn’t produce much firepower. Nearly all of the Yankees’ projected starters got three at-bats apiece. Once the bench players started filtering in, Max Burt hit a two-run homer, his second of the spring, but the Yankees still found themselves down 8-3 in the eighth inning.
– It was a rough night for Yankee pitching overall. The Blue Jays pummeled the Yankees’ pitchers for 11 runs on 18 hits. The Jays put up four runs in the fourth and then six runs over the final three frames.
Highlights
What’s next
The Yankees travel to Clearwater, Fla. to play the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday afternoon, with first pitch set for 1:05 p.m.