The 2017 New York Yankees are officially a 90-win team after Masahiro Tanaka shut down the Blue Jays in this weekend’s series-opener.
- Toronto Blue Jays: 0 (75-85)
- New York Yankees: 4 (90-70)
- American League, FINAL, Box Score
- Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY
Masahiro Tanaka made his final tuneup before the postseason and he showed the New York Yankees he’s ready for it, as he registered a new career-high in strikeouts in a shutout win over the Toronto Blue Jays.
The 28-year-old has a solid mix of his splitter and slider working on Friday afternoon and punched out 15 over seven innings of work while holding the Jays to just three hits. Tanaka now has 639 career strikeouts through 105 career games, marking the most strikeouts through 105 career games in Yankees history.
New York got it going offensively in the bottom of the first, as Jacoby Ellsbury singled, Aaron Judge walked and Didi Gregorius singled to load the bases on Toronto’s starter, Joe Biagini. Starlin Castro dribbled an infield single to score Ellsbury then Greg Bird followed with a sac-fly to center to make it 2-0 after one.
They held that lead until the fifth when Judge lined a rocket to left field to score Aaron Hicks from second base. Although the rookie was tossed out at second after the throw, the Yankees went up 3-0.
After a Bird RBI single in the sixth made it 4-0, manager Joe Girardi called upon his trustworthy bullpen to close out the contest. David Robertson pitched a scoreless eighth and although Dellin Betances put two runners on in the ninth, Aroldis Chapman cleaned up the mess en route to closing out the Yankees’ 90th win of the regular season.
Hernandez = sit
Donaldson = sit
Bautista = sitLIVE STREAM: https://t.co/6YBHBotcr8 pic.twitter.com/5Ijs31rLJo
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) September 29, 2017
Outstanding play by Starlin Castro over at second base for the out. #Yankees pic.twitter.com/gpAz6tucBS
— Max Wildstein (@MaxWildstein) September 29, 2017
The Greg Bird swing that put the #Yankees ahead 4-0.
LIVE STREAM: https://t.co/6YBHBoKNPI pic.twitter.com/9L9tjPWWuE
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) September 29, 2017
That's a new career-high FIFTEEN strikeouts for Tanaka!
Wow. ????? pic.twitter.com/U4OvaAGxsE
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) September 29, 2017
Flying High:
With a RBI sac fly in the first and double in the fourth, Greg Bird extended his streak of at least one extra-base hit and one RBI in each of his last seven games, tying the second-longest such streak by a Yankee since 2000 (Alex Rodriguez, seven games in 2007).
Greg Bird is the fourth Yankee to record an extra-base hit and RBI in seven consecutive games (Mattingly-9, Ruth-8, Rodriguez-7).
— Yankees PR Dept. (@YankeesPR) September 29, 2017
This Day In Yankees’ History:
On Sept. 29, 1987, Don Mattingly hit his sixth grand slam of the season in a 6-0
win over the Boston Red Sox, setting a Major League record (since tied in 2006 by Travis Hafner).
What’s Next:
The Yankees will take on the Blue Jays for the second-to-last game of the 2017 season on Saturday afternoon at 1:05 p.m at Yankee Stadium.
Jaime Garcia will get the starting nod in what will be his ninth start as a Yankee. The left-hander will be seeking his first win as a Yankee. He is 5-10 with a 4.41 ERA in 27 starts overall this season with the Braves, Twins and Yankees and is coming off an outing in Toronto where he surrendered five earned runs in 2.1 innings.
The contest will be aired on FOX or you can catch it on the radio at WFAN 660AM/101.9FM.
