Game #148 Toronto Blue Jays (66-82) @ New York Yankees (91-57) - game recap

Aledmys Diaz was 2-4 with 3RBI as the Blue Jays edged the Yankees 8-7

After a slaughtering from the Yankees last night, the Blue Jays were getting ready for round 2. Today they were up against the big lefty CC Sabathia. The Yankees have an outside chance of getting 100 wins, but they have to go 9-6 in their final 15 games to hit the century mark in wins. Even crazier, the Rays have an outside chance of passing the Yankees and knocking them out of the playoffs. More likely is the A's passing the Yankees and making the Yankees head west for a wild card game. Here's hoping Toronto wins the next 2 games to make NY travel west. Here is today's game recap.

Game Highlights

• The Blue Jays took the lead in the top of the 2nd as Randal Grichuk homered to left-center
• Four batters later, Aledmys Diaz singled, scoring Teoscar Herrnandez
• Two batters later, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. singled home Danny Jansen
• The Blue Jays added a run in the top of the 3rd as Grichuk hit his second solo HR of the game to left
• A batter later, Kevin Pillar homered just inside the left foul pole
• CC Sabathia pitching line: 2.1IP 7H 5R (all earned) 0BB 2K 50 pitches (37 for strikes)
• Sean Reid-Foley pitching line: 5IP 2H 0R 4BB 10K 92 pitches (55 for strikes)
• The Yankees got one back in the bottom of the 6th as Didi Gregorius hit an opposite-field shot to right.
• The Blue Jays added a pair of runs in the top of the 7th as Diaz singled home Pillar and Grichuk
• A batter later, Richard Urena singled, scoring Hernandez
• The Yankees got one back in the bottom of the 7th as Giancarlo Stanton led off with a HR to left
• Two batters later, Gregorius hit a solo HR to right-center
• Five batters later, Miguel Andujar hit a grand slam to get the Yankees within one; also scoring Gleyber Torres, Neil Walker and Luke Voit
• Ken Giles saved his 9th game as a Blue Jay, 21st of the season, getting the final 4 outs of the game
• Final score: Blue Jays 8 Yankees 7

My Take

• Blue Jays manager John Gibbons was ejected in the bottom of the 2nd inning for arguing balls and strikes. It was his 7th ejection of the season.
• Luke Maile was also ejected by HP umpire Roberto Ortiz
• Sean Reid-Foley is slowly looking like a bonafide major league pitcher. Today, he held the desperate Yankees off the scoreboard, allowing 2 hits and walking 4. He struck out 10 Yankee batters, which tied his career-high (he also had 10 K's vs. the Marlins. SRF needs to work on his command a bit. It's generally not a good idea to walk four batters. Reid-Foley might only have one start left as the Blue Jays may consider shutting him down early to preserve his innings.
• This one was much closer than it should have been. The Blue Jays were up 8-1 going into the bottom of the 7th, but Ryan Tepera, Danny Barnes and Tyler Clippard combined to give up 6 runs on 4 hits (three of them home runs, including a grand slam) and 2 walks. The Yankees threatened in the 8th when Clippard walked Aaron Hicks and threw a wild pitch. Luckily Ken Giles came in and retired the next 4 batters to end the game.
• Danny Jansen allowed 2 more wild pitches today. The Yankees did not attempt to steal a base today. Jansen was 1-5 at the plate and scored a run
• Richard Urena was at 2B today. He was 1-4 with an RBI single and did fine defensively
• Up next, the Blue Jays go for their first series win over the Yankees since September 22-24, 2017. The last time the Blue Jays won a series in NY was July 3-5, 2017. JA Happ won the second game of that series, he will not be starting tomorrow. Instead, the Blue Jays will face Lance Lynn and send lefty Thomas Pannone to the mound.