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Instant Reaction: Blue Jays rally late but drop second game of the series against the Yankees
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Photo credit: © Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images
Aidan Sinclair
May 19, 2026, 22:39 EDT
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For a second consecutive night, the Blue Jays found themselves within striking distance of the Bronx Bombers, but fell short yet again.  
Dylan Cease was on the mound for the Blue Jays, coming off a torrid stretch in his last three starts where he went seven innings each time, striking out at least seven batters and allowing no more than three runs in a given outing. He faced a tough matchup tonight against the Yankees, and though he battled through five innings, he ultimately struggled with command. 
The flamethrower cruised through his first three innings, allowing just one hit and punching out six. He appeared to be heading towards another lengthy outing before the fourth inning caught up to him. He surrendered walks to both Aaron Judge and Jazz Chisholm Jr. before Ryan McMahon launched a three-run home run to left field, bringing the score to 3-3 at that point. 
The runs kept pouring on in the fifth, when Cease walked Trent Grisham, before Ben Rice hit a two-run home run to right field, giving the Yankees their fifth and final runs of the night. Cease threw an even 100 pitches, struck out nine, but struggled with four walks and five earned runs, elevating his ERA on the season to a still respectable 2.98. He’ll look to bounce back to the form we saw in his last three outings against the Pirates this weekend. 
Will Warren was on the mound for the Yankees, who entered tonight’s contest with the third-highest K/9 in the league, second to Cease among qualified pitchers. Similar to Cease, Warren cruised through his first three innings before the Blue Jays’ bats came alive in the fourth, scoring the first three runs of the game. A trio of RBI singles from Yohendrick Pinango, Jesus Sanchez, and Andres Gimenez cashed all three runs in the inning. 
It wasn’t until the top of the ninth that the Blue Jays’ offence could get anything going again, with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hitting a sacrifice fly to bring home Andres Gimenez, making the score 5-4. The team had two runners in scoring position with Kazuma Okamoto at the plate looking to take the lead, though a groundout to Anthony Volpe would conclude the second of a four-game series, with the Jays dropping the first two. 
It has undoubtedly been a rough stretch for the Blue Jays offensively, collecting just three walks on the night and mustering just nine hits, all of which were singles. Unlike years past, the majority of the lineup seemingly has lost their approach at the plate, swinging at pitches out of the zone at a much higher clip than they would like. This has been evident during the first two games of the series, with the team recording 20 strikeouts to just 18 hits. 
The bullpen was strong tonight, as Canadian Adam Macko made his second career MLB appearance, registering his first strikeout against Chisholm Jr., and working 0.2 innings. Chase Lee had been called up earlier in the day for an injured Joe Mantiply and worked himself out of a bases-loaded jam, retiring Grisham via a groundout. Mason Fluharty and Louis Varland both worked clean innings, providing the offence all the chances they possibly could to rally a late comeback that simply never materialized. 
The Blue Jays entered tonight’s contest with the fifth-worst team OPS at .677 and eighth worst rbi totals of all teams in the majors; a clear sign of lacking firepower in the lineup. Though the team continues to feel the absences of Addison Barger, Nathan Lukes, and Alejandro Kirk, the players on the field are simply not performing, and if the team wants any chance of competing, they will need players such as Guerrero and Springer to turn it around. 
Game three of the series against the Yankees flies on Wednesday at 7:07 pm EST with Trey Yesavage going up against Cam Schlittler, arguably the best starting pitcher in the American League to begin the season. It will be a tall task for the Blue Jays’ lineup to get going against the righty with a 1.35 ERA on the year, though they have gotten to him in the past, working him to an 8.10 ERA in two regular-season starts a year ago.

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