A strong start by C.C. Sabathia, two home runs by Gary Sanchez and six RBI by Aaron Hicks all spell a game one victory for the New York Yankees tonight in Toronto.

[graphiq id=”kQnwJQ9lBVr” title=”New York Yankees Most Recent Game Recap” width=”600″ height=”553″ url=”https://sw.graphiq.com/w/kQnwJQ9lBVr” frozen=”true”]

Marco Oh-No

The Boys from the Bronx were quick to jump on the Blue Jays ace Marco Estrada. Brett Gardner started off the game with a ringing double to right field.

Manager Joe Girardi decided to shake things up in the lineup today, batting his superstar in the making Aaron Judge in the three hole for the first time all season. And the managerial move immediately paid dividends as the 6-foot-7 right fielder smoked a one-out single into left that scored Gardner and gave the Yankees the first inning one run lead.

Trouble continued for Estrada as a Matt Holliday single and a Starlin Castro walk loaded the bases with just one out.

After a Didi Gregorius strike out gave the Jays their second out, Aaron Hicks smashed a double into right field, clearing the bases to put the Yanks up by four.

After C.C. worked a scoreless bottom of the first, Gary Sanchez joined the hit parade by launching the fifth home run of the season; a deep solo shot to left that extended the Yankees lead out to five.

Scary Gary got to Estrada again as he and the Bombers forced the right-hander to an early exit. After Brett Gardner smacked a one-out single in the top of the fourth, Sanchez obliterated an Estrada fastball down the left-field line and just inside the foul pole for a two-run blast that opens the game up to a 7-0 Yankee advantage.

Two batters later, Matt Holliday reached with a single to spell the end of the line for Estrada. Typically a tough matchup for New York, Estrada left with an ugly final line of 3.2 innings pitched, allowing seven earned runs on nine hits while walking two and striking out four.

Leonel Campos came on in relief of Estrada, serving up two more runs in the top of the seventh. Didi Gregorius reached on a fielding error and came around to score when Aaron Hicks drilled his second double of the night.

Chase Headley followed suit by smacking a single into left field, scoring Hicks to make it a 9-0 contest.

Stellar Sabathia Soars

Although he gave up a solo shot to Kendrys Morales to make it a 9-1 game in the bottom of the seventh, Sabathia was truly remarkable tonight. The big lefty tossed a sensational 6.1 innings of one run ball, with no walks and seven strikeouts.

In fact, when Sabathia struck out Jose Bautista in the bottom of the first, he passed Frank Tanana to take sole possession of 21st place on the all-time strike out list at 2,774 punchouts.

With his victory tonight, C.C. now has his first four-game winning streak since April through May of 2012.

Chad Green finish the game out on the mound for New York. And although he gave up an eighth inning solo blast to Ezekiel Carrera to make it a 9-2 ball game, he was exactly what New York was looking for to close out their night.

Hicks’ History

Adding insult to injury, the Yankees would go on to tack on three more runs in the top of the ninth. The white-hot Aaron Hicks recorded his fourth hit and sixth RBI of the night, another double to left that plated Holliday and Gregorius(who had both singled) to make it 11-1.

Hicks became the first centerfielder since Bernie Williams (2000) to record six RBI in a single game.

Chase Headley closed the book on the scoring when he singled in Hicks from second on a line drive to left field, leading to what was the final score of 12-2.

What’s Next

The Yankees head back to the Rogers Center for game two of the series tomorrow night. Taking the mountain for New York is the best starter for New York in 2017, Michael Pineda(6-2, 3.22 ERA). Taking the ball for Toronto tomorrow night will be the left-hander Francisco Liriano(2-2, 6.76 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 7:07 PM/EST and can be seen on MLB.TV and the YES Network.