After Juan Soto‘s late stoppage, the Yankees’ offense struggled and the bullpen collapsed as New York lost 9-3 to the Blue Jays on Saturday.
Here are the takeaways…
For the 10th game in a row, the Yankees’ opponent scored first. This time, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. put Toronto ahead early with a two-run shot in the first inning. It is the third game in a row that Guerrero homered.
Nestor Cortes would settle down until the fourth inning when a leadoff doubled Justin Turner turned into another run after one Alejandro Kirk double. The Blue Jays hit a lot of hard balls from Cortes who didn’t make it out of the fifth inning.
The left-handed pitcher threw 4.1 innings (87 pitches/53 strikes) and gave up three runs on seven hits and one walk, while striking out five. Jake Cousins came onto the field with men on first and third base with one out, and hit Guerrero Jr. out and caused Turner to make a ground ball to end the threat and keep the score at 3-1.
While Cousins did a good job of keeping the Jays off the board, the rest of the Pen did not. The combination of Phil Bickford And Caleb Ferguson allowed five runs — all by Bickford — on five hits and two walks. Guerrero Jr. had the big hit, a bases-clearing double to end the five-run inning.
Clay Holmes would allow one run on two hits in his one inning of work.
-Without Soto in the lineup, the Yankees had a hard time scoring. However, they did have their chances. In the first period they had men on first and second base and one out, but could not score a run.
The threat was then extinguished Ben Rice was caught on third down after a double steal. In the third, Aaron Rechter was intentionally walked with Rice on second base and a base open with two outs. Alex Verdugo popped out to end the inning. Toronto had another chance to intentionally walk Judge in the fifth with a runner on third base and two outs, but they threw to the slugger and he made them pay with an RBI single.
– Rice had one of his best days at the plate as a major leaguer on Saturday. Rice batted in the two hole for Soto and went 2-for-4 with a double, his first extra-base hit in the majors.
Judge went 2-for-3 with a walk and his 80th RBI of the season. Judge became the third Yankees ever to have 80 RBI before July and joined Honey Ruth (1926) and Lou Gehrig (1927, 1930)
Austin Wells hit his third home run of the season in the ninth, a two-run shot, to give the Yankees their second and third runs of the game.
Game MVP: Vladimir Guerero Jr.
The lanky first baseman gave the Yankees fits on Saturday. Vlad went 3-for-5 and drove in six runs.
Chris Bassitt deserves some credit. After being hit by Judge’s line drive, he was in the game to give Toronto six strong innings.
Highlights
What’s next?
The Yankees and Blue Jays wrap up their four-game series on Sunday. The first pitch is scheduled for 1:37 pm
Gerrit Cole (0-1, 9.00 ERA) looks to rebound when he meets the mound Kevin Gausman (6-6, 4.26 ERA)
