New York Yankees

After almost a week of winning baseball, the New York Yankees have fallen to the Toronto Blue Jays in game two of three. 

  • Toronto Blue Jays: 8 (23-25)
  • New York Yankees: 4 (22-23)
  • American League, FINAL, Box Score
  • Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY
The New York Yankees were unable to extend their winning streak to seven on Wednesday night as they were handed their first loss on May 17 by the Toronto Blue Jays.

Ivan Nova got the starting nod for New York and snapped the Yankees’ streak of six consecutive quality starts after he surrendered four runs on seven hits as he struck out eight batters.

On the other side, Marco Estrada tossed seven innings of three-run ball but did end up surrendering two home runs to the Bombers on 102 pitches.

Didi Gregorius led the offensive charge with a 3-for-4 day while driving and RBI. Unfortunately, it was the bullpen that faltered today and Chasen Shreve was the first victim after serving up two home runs and giving up a total of three runs in his one inning of work.

The scoring got started in the bottom of the third when Brett Gardner grounded into a fielder’s choice with the bases loaded that scored Chase Headley. After that, it was all Blue Jays.

 

In the top of the fourth inning, Ryan Goins lined a double into the right-center field gap to plate Kevin Pillar and Devon Travis. It was Goins first hit since May 14 and it gave Toronto a 2-1 lead.

 

In the top of the sixth, Nova surrendered a home run to a former teammate, Russel Martin. It was the former Yankee catcher’s first home run of the 2016 season and extended Toronto’s lead to two.

After the Jays put across two more runs off Shreve, Martin would come through again in the top of the seventh by smacking a two-run home run that quickly left Yankee Stadium.

You got to love baseball. Martin hadn’t hit a home run all season but ended up hitting two at a place he used to call home for two seasons. I guess you can say that the Bronx makes Russel flex some muscle.

Despite being down by six runs entering the late stages of the ballgame, the Yankees wouldn’t go down quietly.

In the bottom of the seventh, Chase Headley lined a solo home run to right field off Estrada to pull New York within five. Then, just one batter later, Didi smacked his fourth home run of the year to right.

Despite the back-to-back jacks and even another bomb by Austin Romine, the Yankees were unable to eliminate the deficit and fell to the Blue Jays by a final of 8-4 snapping their longest win streak since June 1-9 from a year ago.

 

Injury Update:

One of the Yankees’ most encouraging prospects, Gary Sanchez, has suffered a cracked thumb after a foul tip. He has been placed on the minor-league disabled list and will be re-evaluated in two weeks.

The 23-year-old catcher had a slash line of .290/.333/.529 prior to the injury at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre along with a .989 OPS in May. Last week, the Yankees called him up temporarily to be in the lineup as a designated hitter.

 

A-Rod Update:

All is set for Alex Rodriguez’s return to Yankee Stadium on Thursday night especially following a mammoth home run he cranked in Trenton during his rehab assignment.

A-Rod was expected to return to the New York Yankees’ lineup on Thursday and that’s exactly what will happen as he worked through his rehab games with no reported problems. Expect him to be the designated hitter tomorrow afternoon.

 

What’s Next:

The final game of this brief three-game set at the stadium will take place tomorrow afternoon with CC Sabathia getting the starting nod opposing J.A. Happ.

Against the Oakland Athletics on Friday, Sabathia had a dominant return to the mound after two weeks on the shelf for a groin injury. He dealt six innings of one-run ball on three hits.

The big left-hander is 15-6 with a 3.35 ERA featuring 8.4 strikeouts per nine innings in 22 starts against the Jays. Last time out, Sabathia took the loss after surrendering four runs on nine hits in 6.1 innings against Toronto.

Happ was formerly listed as the starting pitcher for Friday, however, he’ll take the hill on Thursday on regular rest thanks to Monday’s off-day.

On April 13 against the Yankees at the Rogers Centre, the lefty held the Bombers to one run on seven hits over six innings of work. He struck out four New York hitters on 101 pitches thrown.

First pitch will be thrown at 4:05 PM ET at the Stadium and you could tune to YES at three for complete coverage of the series finale.

NEXT: Do The New York Yankees Need Alex Rodriguez?

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