The Yankees swept their two-game set with the Toronto Blue Jays, winning Wednesday’s game, 5-3.
Here are the takeaways…
– Nobody tell Chris Woodward, but the Yankees again took advantage of the short porch. With runners on first and third and down a run in the fourth, Gleyber Torres squeaked one over the right-center field wall to give the Yankees a 3-1 lead. It was their third three-run jack in two games, and it also broke an 0-for-11 skid for the second baseman.
Up a run in the bottom of the sixth, the Yanks put runners on second and third with one out, which knocked Jose Berrios out of the game. The Blue Jays brought in Trevor Richards, but Torres was clutch once again, driving in both runs with a single right back up the middle to make it 5-2 Yanks, giving him five RBI on the day.
– Jameson Taillon had a rough first inning, loading the bases before recording an out. But he retired the next three batters, and allowed only one run to score, avoiding the worst of things against the dangerous Blue Jays lineup. From then on, he settled in quite nicely, allowing just three base runners in his next four innings, with no one advancing beyond second base. Taillon did run into some more trouble in the sixth, though, putting runners at the corners and the lead run at the plate with one out.
That prompted Aaron Boone to go with Michael King to clean up the mess. He did allow a sac fly by Matt Chapman that made it a one-run game. The next batter, Santiago Espinal, hit a grounder to short that was bobbled by Isiah Kiner-Falefa, but he flipped it to Torres at second base who tagged Alejandro Kirk, who tripped over Torres and came off the bag for the final out of the inning. That kept Taillon in line for the win – he allowed two earned on six hits while walking one, hitting one, and striking out four. It was a gutsy performance from Taillon after he was in serious jeopardy of a really short afternoon.
– King stayed on for the seventh inning, but he allowed the tying run in Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to come to the plate. Boone decided to go with Clay Holmes to face last season’s AL MVP runner-up, and it worked out pretty well, as Guerrero grounded into an inning-ending double play. Holmes also tossed a scoreless eighth inning for good measure, and his ERA is now down to 0.55 (one earned run/16.1 innings).
– The ninth inning belonged to Aroldis Chapman, and of course he had to make everyone sweat by allowing a leadoff double, immediately followed by a pitch directly to the backstop and then walking Vinny Capra. That brought the tying run in George Springer to the plate. He hit a sac fly, which was Chapman’s first run allowed of the season. Bo Bichette then struck out after narrowly missing a game-tying homer, and Guerrero popped out to Torres, fittingly, to end the game.
– The Yankees are now 6-3 against the Blue Jays this year after going 8-11 against them last year.
– With an 0-for-3 day, Kiner-Falefa is now 0 for his last 17 and also committed two errors. This comes immediately after he had been 19 for his previous 50 (.380).
What’s next
The Yanks will travel to Chicago to face the defending AL Central champion White Sox for a four-game series beginning Thursday at 8:10 p.m.
Luis Gil will get the call from Triple-A, and Chicago will go with Dylan Cease.