Instant Reaction: Blue Jays fell 11-2 to Yankees to drop first game of doubleheader
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Photo credit: © Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images
Ryley Delaney
Apr 27, 2025, 16:45 EDTUpdated: Apr 27, 2025, 17:11 EDT
Well, that wasn’t good.
The Toronto Blue Jays fell 11-2 in the first game of a doubleheader on Sunday to the New York Yankees. Thankfully, they’ll have a chance to at least win the series in the second game of the doubleheader later this afternoon. But first, let’s take a look at what happened in this game.
It looked like a great start for the Jays. Bo Bichette reached on a single and advanced to second on a throwing error. After a wild pitch, Bichette moved to third base, allowing Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to drive him in with a ground out. Two walks and a single loaded the bases with two outs, but Ernie Clement flew out to end the threat.
Kevin Gausman breezed through the first two innings, but had one of the worst single innings in Blue Jays history in the bottom of the third. After getting the first out, he walked Oswaldo Cabrera and Ben Rice, then allowed a single to Aaron Judge. Cody Bellinger hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game at one, before Gausman walked the next three batters to make it a 3-1 game.
It went from bad to worse later that inning, as Austin Wells hit a clutch double to drive in three runs, making it 6-1. In the bottom of the fifth, Anthony Volpe hit his fifth home run of the season, which would lead the Blue Jays if he played for Toronto. That inning also featured a two-run double from Cabrera to make it 9-1.
After a lead-off walk to Bellinger, Paul Goldschmidt hit a double to make it 10-1. The Yankees also added a run in the bottom of the eighth, stop the game is already won. In the top of the ninth, Addison Barger hit his third double of the season, which came off the bat at 112.5 mph. That’s good, at least.

Takeaways…

Kevin Gausman did not have a good outing. His 53 pitches thrown in the third inning matched a franchise record (and not the good kind) set by Woody Williams on July 14, 1998. Ironically, I wrote about Williams earlier this month.
Realistically, Gausman should’ve been pulled far earlier and shouldn’t have faced Wells, who hit the bases-clearing double. It was clear that Gausman wasn’t getting back in the zone, and pulling him after the 3-1 game would have given them a chance to win. Both he and manager John Schenider were thrown out of the game.
Paxton Schultz replaced Gausman, giving up three earned runs in two and one-third innings to bring his season ERA to 4.05. Josh Walker gave up an earned run and struck out three in his inning and two-thirds of work, while Dillon Tate also gave up an earned run in his inning and a third of work. Not a great game for pitching.
The good news is that the bullpen is still in good shape for the second game of the doubleheader. Yimi García, Jeff Hoffman, Chad Green, and Yariel Rodríguez should be available out of the bullpen.
But it’s not just on their pitching, as the Blue Jays failed to get on an ace early, flying out with the bases loaded and two outs. Overall, they went 2-13 with runners in scoring position, not nearly good enough.
Of the 11 hits the Jays had, Bo Bichette, Addison Barger, and Alejandro Kirk had two hits, while Myles Straw had three hits to keep up his good start to the season.
Game 2 of the doubleheader starts at 5:25 PM ET on Sunday. A win means the Jays win the series, while another loss means they will have lost their last three series. They need a win here.

Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. They can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.