Despite falling behind early, the New York Yankees were able to come behind and take the first series against the Toronto Blue Jays.
- Toronto Blue Jays: 6 (9-19)
- New York Yankees: 8 (17-9)
- American League, FINAL, Box Score
- Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY
The New York Yankees extended their record to 11-6 vs American League East opponents on Wednesday night thanks to an 8-6 win over the Toronto Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium.
New York fell into an early hole in the top of the first as starter CC Sabathia didn’t have his A-Game. After back-to-back singles by Kevin Pillar, Jose Bautista and a fly-out by Kendrys Morales to put Pillar in third, Justin Smoak slapped a base hit to center to get the scoring started in this one.
Steve Pearce, the very next batter, then took Sabathia deep for a three-run bomb and just like that, the Yankees found themselves down 4-0.
37-year-old Matt Holliday, who entered Wednesday on the home run number 299 mark, changed things the very next inning. The former National League batting champion took a hack at a 93.9 mph fastball by Blue Jays starter Marcus Stroman and by the time it landed in Monument Park, Holliday had joined the 300 home run club with a 446-foot shot.
Toronto got right back to work against CC in the second, however, as a bases-loaded walk to Russell Martin and a RBI groundout by Morales made it 6-3 Blue Jays before April’s American League Rookie Of The Month stepped to the dish in the bottom of the third.
Aaron Judge, who took home the award after an astronomical start to the 2017 season, ripped a two-run home run with Starlin Castro on board to pull the Yankees within one. The blast also made the 25-year-old the youngest player in baseball history to hit 13 home runs in his team’s first 26 games of a season.
Sabathia would settle down after allowing six runs in the first two innings and finished with six earned runs over four innings of work with five strikeouts.
Fast forward to the bottom of the seventh, the Yankees were on the brink of knotting the game up at six apiece and with the bases-loaded for Chris Carter, a broken-bat single just past the infield grass got the job done. Didi Gregorius then came through with an infield single to put the Yankees ahead and an Aaron Hicks walk gave the Bombers a lead they would never relinquish. Thanks to five scoreless innings and five combined strikeouts between Adam Warren, Tyler Clippard, Dellin Betances (W) and Aroldis Chapman (SV), New York matched their best 26-game start over the last seven seasons (17-9 in 2011) with an 8-6 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.
Thanks to five scoreless innings and five combined strikeouts between Adam Warren, Tyler Clippard, Dellin Betances (W) and Aroldis Chapman (SV), New York matched their best 26-game start over the last seven seasons (17-9 in 2011) with an 8-6 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.
3 home runs in 6 innings for @WayneTwentyOcho. ?
? https://t.co/97SOe5NH8o @budcanada pic.twitter.com/L89wR4yK8T
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) May 4, 2017
https://twitter.com/EliteSportsNY/status/859915426914066433
#AllRise for your @MLB home run leader. https://t.co/1WKcr9eRDD pic.twitter.com/6xnXyFE1eN
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) May 4, 2017
When he's not hitting home runs, @WayneTwentyOcho is making diving catches. https://t.co/csicHZkcZz pic.twitter.com/DbI9ts2qm7
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) May 4, 2017
Elite Company:
When Judge hit yet another authoritative blast in the bottom of the third inning, it gave the 25-year-old the second-most home runs by a Yankee within the team’s first 26 games of the season.
That broke the tie with Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle and puts him just one away from Alex Rodriguez for the most.
Most HR by a #Yankees hitter within team's 1st 26 games of the season:
A-Rod (2007): 14
Judge (2017): 13
Ruth (1921): 12
Mantle (1956): 12— Christian Kouroupakis (@ckouroupakis) May 4, 2017
This Day In Yankees History:
On May 3, 1936, Joe DiMaggio made his major league debut for the Yankees in what was a 14-5 victory against St. Louis at Yankee Stadium. The future Hall Of Famer went 3-for-6 with a triple, three runs scored and a RBI.
On this day in 1936, Hall of Famer Joltin' Joe DiMaggio made his Major League debut for the New York @Yankees. pic.twitter.com/7iNzPEZZvQ
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) May 3, 2017
What’s Next:
The Yankees and Chicago Cubs will go head-to-head at Wrigley Field this weekend starting with a day game on Friday.
This will be the club’s first meeting since 2014, when New York went 3-1 (2-0 at Yankee Stadium, 1-1 in Chicago). On April 16 of that year, the Yankees managed to pitch two shutouts in a day/night doubleheader, marking the first time that a team had recorded two shutout wins in both games of a doubleheader since the Minnesota Twins came out with an 11-0 and 5-0 win against the Oakland Athletics in 1988.
Manager Joe Girardi has yet to announce his starting rotation for the weekend set, but first pitch for Friday will come your way at 2:20 p.m. ET. It can be seen on the YES Network or heard on WFAN 660/101.9 FM.
