Yankees 4 Blue Jays 5
My two favourite things: Jays winning, Yankees losing. They are best when I can have both in one game.
Yusei Kikuchi was terrific. We’ve had three terrific starts in a row—actually four. I wasn’t counting Rodriguez’s start because he didn’t pitch deep into the game, but he was very good.
Kikuchi pitched 6 innings, allowing 4 hits, 1 earned run, 1 walk, and 9 strikeouts. The run against shouldn’t have happened. Giancarlo Stanton hit a hard grounder to Bo Bichette’s right, which Bo should have made a play on. Originally, it was called a hit, then changed to an error and then back to a hit. And then, with Stanton on second Jose Trevino singled to left. Davis Schneider made a nice throw to the plate, beating Stanton (who is extremely slow), but Danny Jansen couldn’t make the catch.
Kikuchi left the game with the Jays up 5-1, but the bullpen made a game of it.
Trevor Richards gave up two runs in the seventh. Richards is on the not-so short list of pitchers I would have rather sent out than Nate Pearson, but they don’t consult with me on player moves. Richards walked the first batter he faced and then gave up a double to Ale Verdugo. A ground out and a sac fly scored the pair. It was 5-3.
Yimi Garcia pitched a perfect eighth.
Jordan Romano made things exciting in the ninth. I hoped his first appearance could come with the team up by five, but no. With one out (on a terrific catch by Daulton Varsho in left, I’m glad John Schneider made defensive changes in the ninth), Jordan hit Gleyber Torres with a pitch. Then Vergudo doubled, putting the tying run on second. A ground-out scored one and moved the tying run to third. But a ground ball to Isiah Kiner Falefa ended the game. Romano gets his first save of the season.
On offense, as always, we should have scored more than we did.
We had two on with one out in the first (Vlad singled and Bo walked), but back-to-back strikeouts of Justin Turner and Davis Schneider ended it. The good part was that Carlos Rodón threw 32 pitches in the inning.
In the third, we loaded the bases (Daulton Varsho doubled, George Springer singled, and Vlad walked) but scored just one on a Turner sac fly.
We got two in the fourth. Ernie Clement had a one-out single. An out later, Varsho walked, and the pair pulled off a double steal. Springer walked. Vlad drove in two with a single up the middle. Unfortunately, Bo followed with a pop fly to right.
We got our last runs in the sixth. Ernie Clements led off with a double. IKF ground one to second, and Torres decided to try to throw out Clements going to third. He was called out on the field, but amazingly, a replay challenge overturned it. IKF stole second, and Clement scored when Torres couldn’t catch the throw from the catcher. Springer walked to give us two on again. Vlad flied out, but Bo singled home Kiner-Falefa.
We had 8 hits and 7 walks. Rodón seemed to have a limited grasp of the strike zone.
Vlad and Clement each had two hits, and Vlad had two walks. Springer had a hit and two walks.
The only Jays not to reach base by hit or walk were Schneider (0 for 4, 2 k) and IKF (0 for 4, 2 k), who did reach on the fielder’s choice in the sixth.
Jays of the Day: Kikuchi (.220 WPA), and Vlad (.259). Let’s give an honourable mention to Garcia, Springer, Clement and IKF, mostly for one of the best defensive plays I’ve ever seen. A line drive off Vlad’s glove that Isiah backed up picked up the ball on a bounce and managed to throw to Kikuchi, who was running to first. Getting the ball was one thing, but making that throw was just great.
The Other Award: Schneider (-.128 for the 0 for 4).
Tomorrow, we have an afternoon game at 3:00 Eastern time.