The New York Yankees’s came within one run of tying the ballgame but long reliever Ivan Nova worsened the deficit as the Bombers fell to the Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre.
- New York Yankees: 2 (4-3)
- Toronto Blue Jays: 7 (3-4)
- American League, FINAL, Box Score
- Rogers Centre, Toronto, ON
By Christian Kouroupakis
The New York Yankees had a 0.84 bullpen ERA coming into Wednesday’s game, but Ivan Nova let up four earned runs to help drive that ERA to 2.34.
Michael Pineda took the hill today and was inconsistent with his pitching, leaving a ton of his sliders and fastballs up in the zone to get smacked.
Big Mike took the loss for the Yankees as he pitched six innings of three-run ball (two earned) while striking out six and walking three. His stuff looked electric at times, but when you leave pitches up in the zone against this lineup, you’re bound to get hit at times.
Mark Teixeira hit a home run in the top of the eighth to make it a 3-2 contest, but it would not provide a lift as New York would give up a four-spot the next half inning.
Pineda’s counterpart, J.A. Happ, surrendered seven hits but worked around jams in the third and sixth to hold the Bombers to one run. Brett Cecil, Drew Storen and Pat Venditte helped finish off Happ’s work.
Ryan Goins and Michael Saunders provided the pop for Toronto as they went a combined 5-for-7 with two RBI and a pair of doubles powering their team to a 7-2 victory, evening up the series.
FINAL: Blue Jays 7, #Yankees 2.
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) April 14, 2016
Oh Nova…
Ivan Nova dazzled in his first outing a week ago, cleaning up Pineda’s mess by pitching in four scoreless innings against the Houston Astros.
His second appearance? Not so super.
Called upon to hold the Blue Jays at three runs, he surrendered four runs on five hits to put the game out of reach. Nova also saw his season ERA skyrocket to 7.20.
Ivan Nova put together a less than stellar outing in the bullpen tonight. He allowed 5 hits and 4 earned runs during the 8th inning.
— Bronx Bomber Ball (@BronxBomberBall) April 14, 2016
Terrific Torreyes
Ronald Torreyes, who has been with five different organizations in the last year, singled and doubled today to kick off his Yankee career with a .857 batting average in his first seven at-bats.
Ronald Torreyes is a hitting machine! A leadoff double down the line and he's now batting .857 on the young season. #LetsGoYankees
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) April 14, 2016
Unfortunately for all you Torreyes enthusiasts out there, he skipped a throw into the turf that helped the Blue Jays take the lead over New York in the bottom of the fifth.
History
In the top of the fourth inning against Happ, Carlos Beltran singled to left field to tie Ozzie Smith for eleventh on the all-time hits list for switch hitters.
With that hit, Carlos Beltran ties Ozzie Smith for 11th place on the all-time hit list among switch-hitters with 2,460.
— Jeff Quagliata (@yestoresearch) April 14, 2016
In the top of the sixth, Beltran hit another single for number 2,461 to move into sole possession of eleventh place. Beltran went 2-for-4 in the loss to the Blue Jays.
Drive ‘Em In
The Yankee offense struggled yet again with runners in scoring position going 1-for-7 tonight. Last night, they were 1-for-10 for a total batting average of .118 when runners are on second or third this series. The Bombers also left seven runners on base.
What’s next
The New York Yankees hope to take the series Thursday night with Nathan Eovaldi on the hill. Eovaldi is coming off a rough start against the Astros when surrendered two home runs across five innings pitched.
His first year in pinstripes was stellar, but the first outing of his second season in New York was a dud so he’ll hope to re-write the script against the Jays on Thursday.
Marcus Stroman will go for Toronto and the kid does have success against the Yankees as he owns a 4-1 record with a 2.43 ERA in five career starts against them.
First pitch will be at 7:07 and coverage will be on the YES Network starting at 6:30.
