That one hurts. We finally got the good Gausman, some hitters are breaking out of slumps, and the cavalry who were supposed to ride in and save the bullpen give it away. The series win is great, but with a sweep in the Jays’ grasp until the Yankees were down to their last two outs it’s not at all satisfying.
Luckily, tomorrow is an off day, and hopefully a trip to sunny San Diego will improve the vibes.
After a rough start to the season, Kevin Gausman fought his way into a bounce back outing. He started off in a jam, walking two and giving up a line drive single to load the bases with two out in the first, but got a strikeout to escape the jam. From there he settled in, scattering one more walk and one hit across the next three innings. The Yankees got to him in the fifth, with doubles by Oswaldo Cabrera and Juan Soto scoring one, but that was all the damage he’d allow. It wasn’t an efficient outing, and he struggled to complete five innings, but his stuff looked crisp and his fastball was back to his usual 95 and touched 98. In the end he went 5.0, allowing 1 earned run on 4 hits and 3 walks while striking out 6.
Trevor Richards handled a clean 6th, recovering from a rough outing yesterday. Genesis Cabrera sat the Yankees down 1-2-3 in the seventh, but gave up a solo shot to Soto in the eighth to bring New York within two.
From there, the bullpen melted down. Erik Swanson, looking very rusty in his first game after starting the season on the IL, gave up a towering home run to Giancarlo Stanton on his third pitch of the ninth. Gleyber Torres and Alex Verdugo followed with a single and a double, respectively, to put the tying run on third and the go-ahead run in scoring position. Swanson did manage to get Cabrera to ground out before being pulled. If anything, Tim Mayza looked worse. He gave up a single to Jose Trevino that tied the game, walked Soto to load the bases, and gave up a single down the line to Aaron Judge that scored two, putting the Yankees out front 6-4. The Jays lead from one out in the second to one out in the ninth.
The offence mostly came from Daulton Varsho. After an ice cold start, he went 8 for 27 on the home stand with 4 home runs and a double. He first put Toronto out front in the second with a two run shot, then scored their third run with a solo shot to lead off the seventh.
The other run came later that inning. Walks to Kevin Kiermaier and Vlad Guerrero jr. and a George Springer ground ball single loaded the bases, and a Bo Bichette sac fly brought Kiermaier home.
Otherwise, it was a case in typical Blue Jays execution with men on base. The team was 0-8 with runners in scoring position, leaving 7 on base to lose in spite of out-hitting New York by 3.
Jays of the Day: Gausman (0.162), Cabrera (0.105) and Richards (just 0.080, but only because the game should have been mostly over) on the pitching side, and Varsho (0.266) represents the hitters.
No San Diego for You: Swanson (-0.374) and Mayza (-0.462) score about as badly as it’s possible to here, and deserve to. On offence, Springer (-0.100) and the suddenly cold Justin Turner (-0.116) did the most to harm the cause
The Jays are off tomorrow for a travel day. It’s a late one on Friday night in San Diego, with first pitch slated for 9:40pm ET. Yariel Rodrigues (0-0, 2.45) will look to build on a great first career MLB start, while the offence will face Matt Waldron (0-1, 3.14).