logo

Toronto drops series finale to the Yankees 4-2 as the offence sputters again

alt
Photo credit:Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports
Evan Stack
11 months ago
Aaron Judge homered once again and Toronto’s offence failed to generate much of any momentum throughout the game as the Blue Jays lost to the Yankees 4-2 tonight, thereby losing the four-game series. Toronto was without Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (knee) for much of the game until he pinch-hit in the 7th, as well as Kevin Kiermaier who was still out with an illness.

Blue Jays Nation’s Player of the Game: Bo Bichette

Bichette came into tonight’s matchup with good career numbers against Nestor Cortes. Albeit a relatively small sample size, Bo entered tonight’s game 5-for-10 against the southpaw with a home run and a double. He continued his successes with a 3-for-3 night against him, and a 3-for-4 outing for the game. This included his ninth home run of the season in the first inning, a solo shot off of a cutter from Cortes. Bo continues to tear it up at the plate, leading the team in batting average, home runs, and RBIs.

Things worth mentioning

I don’t mean to sound like I’m ducking the league’s best, but I’m ready to have a few days off from facing Aaron Judge. Judge smoked a two-run home run to deep centre field off of Jose Berrios in the 1st inning, his fourth home run of the series. After allowing two hits to kick off the game, however, Berrios was in command throughout the rest of his start, retiring 18 of the next 21 batters he faced. Berrios did allow an RBI single from Aaron Hicks in the 7th inning, but he was overall solid despite earning the loss. His line for the night was 6.2 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, and 8 Ks.
As has been the theme for the rest of this series, Toronto struggled to score runs tonight. The only difference was that there weren’t as many opportunities tonight as there were last night. Toronto left five runners on base, and were 0-for-3 with RISP. Their biggest opportunity came in the 7th inning, as the Blue Jays loaded the bases with no one out against Ryan Weber and his daunting 1.7 K/9. The Jays were only able to do minimal damage though, only getting one run out of it. Brandon Belt started it off by flying out to shallow left, not deep enough to score anybody. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. drew a standing ovation pinch-hitting for Santiago Espinal, and he was able to score Whit Merrifield on a sac fly. George Springer flew out to deep right centre to end the inning on the first pitch he saw, and Toronto still trailed 3-2.
Matt Chapman nearly had a game-tying home run in the bottom of the 8th, taking a sinker from Albert Abreu high and deep to right field. Unfortunately, it was just a matter of feet to the left of the foul netting, and Chapman would strike out later in the at-bat.
Anthony Volpe was not as unlucky in the 9th inning as his solo home run was off the same foul netting. Volpe turned on a 98 mph from Nate Pearson (who still had an impressive outing) to give the Yankees some insurance.
The Blue Jays now turn the page and will face the Baltimore Orioles for the first time this season. The Orioles are currently tied for the second-best record in all of baseball, barring the Dodgers winning tonight’s game in St. Louis. Yusei Kikuchi will get the ball for the Jays against Kyle Gibson on Apple TV.

ARTICLE PRESENTED BY BETANO

Check out these posts...