The last-place Toronto Blue Jays handed the first-place New York Yankees its second loss in a row thanks to some help from the long ball.
- Toronto Blue Jays: 7 (9-17)
- New York Yankees: 1 (15-9)
- American League, FINAL, Box Score
- Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY
The New York Yankees, despite entering play on Monday as the best team in the American League facing the lowly Toronto Blue Jays, were unable to come across with a series-opening win at Yankee Stadium.
Luis Severino got the start for New York and clearly did not have his sharp slider or fastball command working at all as he served up five runs on eight hits in 5.2 innings pitched.
Ryan Goins got the scoring started in this one, as the Blue Jays’ shortstop took New York’s young 23-year-old deep in the second inning with Devon Travis on board to give his squad a 2-0 lead.
The Yankees’ unofficial April MVP, Aaron Judge, answered back in the bottom of the fourth with a RBI single to right to score the red-hot Starlin Castro, but after that, it was all Toronto.
Goins came through yet again two innings later with an interesting two-run sacrifice fly to center to make it 4-1 and after Severino got Luke Maile to fly out, Chris Coghlan knocked him out of the contest with a solo bomb to right field.
Down 5-1, manager Joe Girardi turned to Luis Cessa, who was recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to give the Yankees some much-needed long relief, and slugger Jose Bautista gave him a rude awakening in his return to the bigs.
After an Ezequiel Carrera single, Bautista mashed a two-run jack to left-center to put the Blue Jays ahead 7-1. Reliever Danny Barnes then registered two innings of shutout ball in the eighth and ninth to hand the Yankees their first losing streak since April 8.
Final: Blue Jays 7, Yankees 1.
Tanaka takes the mound tomorrow night at 7:05.
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) May 2, 2017
https://twitter.com/drewhockridge/status/859191366395600897
Joey bats, Joey gone. @JoeyBats19 records @BlueJays’ hardest-hit HR of 2017, a 109.1 mph shot. https://t.co/bdKvLlBZKH #Statcast pic.twitter.com/u8DtN62w99
— #Statcast (@statcast) May 2, 2017
Ryan Goins had himself a night as the #BlueJays beat the #Yankees for their third straight win. Full stats here: https://t.co/4JNeL9mZav pic.twitter.com/Fa8EP0WElG
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 2, 2017
El Capitan?
During his press conference prior to the start of this week’s three-game series, manager Joe Girardi gave Aaron Judge quite a compliment via comparison.
“You know, [Judge] is a little bit like Derek [Jeter] to me. He has got a smile all the time. He loves to play the game. You always think that he’s gonna do the right thing on the field and off the field. When you look at him, he’s got a presence about him. He plays the game to win all the time and that’s the most important thing. It’s not about what you did that day,” Girardi said. “I understand that’s a big comparison, but I remember Derek when he was young. He grew into that leadership role.”
Jeter, who was named the Yankees’ captain in 2003, collected a franchise-record 3,465 career over his 20-year career and is a safe bet for a first ballot Hall Of Famer. The jury is out on whether or not Judge will have that type of a career, but having the same personality sure is an honorable recognition in itself.
This Day In Yankees History:
On May 1, 1951, Yankees’ legend Mickey Mantle slapped the first of his 536 career home runs off White Sox’ hurler Randy Gumpert in the sixth inning of an 8-3 victory at Comiskey Park.
What’s Next:
New York will send its ace, Masahiro Tanaka, to the hill in order to even up the series at one game apiece. The 28-year old will be making his sixth start of the 2017 season on Tuesday coming off a three-hit complete game shutout against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park.
In his career against the Blue Jays, Tanaka owns a 2.34 ERA over 10 starts including 60 strikeouts over 61.2 innings of work. Matt Latos will make his third start of the year for Toronto.
First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. ET and can be caught on the YES Network or on the radio at WFAN 660/101.9 FM.
