Wednesday, September 9, 2020

Game # 43 New York Yankees (22-21) @ Toronto Blue Jays (24-19) - game recap

 

Derek Fisher drove in both runs in a 7-2 loss to the Yankees

After two huge wins over their division rivals, The NY Yankees, the Blue Jays were going for a sweep over the Yankees for the 1st time since May 30-June 1st. The accomplish that, the Blue Jays had to get to Deivi Garcia, who was making his 3rd career start. Tanner Roark was on the bump for the Blue Jays, vying for his 3rd win of the season.Rowdy Tellez was out of the lineup after tweaking his knee chasing a foul ball. Travis Shaw got the start at 1st base with Vlad at DH for the 3rd straight day. Caleb Joseph was behind the plate and Jonathan Villar got the start at SS. Derek Fisher got the start in LF with Lourdes Gurriel Jr. getting the day off. Could the Blue Jays make it four wins in a row? Here is tonight's game recap.

Game Highlights:

  • The Yankees opened the scoring in the top of the 2nd as Gleyber Torres smashed a solo bomb to dead center 
  • The Blue Jays took the lead in the bottom half of the inning as Derek Fisher smashed a 2-run blast to right-center; also scoring Caleb Joseph
  • The Yankees tied it on the 1st pitch of the 3rd inning on a screaming line drive to right by DJ LeMahieu 
  • Tanner Roark pitching line: 4IP 2H 2R (both earned) 3BB 3K 68 pitches (38 for strikes)
  • The Yankees took the lead in the top of the 5th as  Luke Volt singled scoring Tyler Wade 
  • Three batters later, Torres doubled home Volt and Aaron Hicks 
  • Deivi Garcia pitching line: 7IP 5H 2R (both earned) 0BB 6K 95 pitches (63 for strikes)
  • The Yankees added a run in the top of the 9th as Clint Frazier singled home LeMahieu
  • A batter later, Hicks scored on a groundout by Torres
  • Final score: Yankees 7 Blue Jays 2

My Take:

  • Tanner Roark had an ok outing, tossing 4 innings, allowing a pair of runs on two hits, while walking three and striking out 3. After the game, Roark voiced his displeasure at the usage of the starting pitchers, in particular himself. Roark referenced not being a fan of the 3rd-time through the order analytics. In some ways, he has a point. Roark was at 68 pitches when he was pulled, and the pitcher right after him gave up 3 runs, which proved to be the difference. If Montoyo was worried that Roark might get hit hard 3rd time through, have a reliever throwing in the bullpen and ready if needed. Roark's in his 8th year in the bigs, he's earned the right to pitch an extra inning
  • The news on Rowdy Tellez seemed to keep getting worse. Halfway through the game, a picture of him sitting in the stands with crutches at his feet was tweeted out. Then word came down (unofficially) that Tellez had sustained an injury to his petellar tendon that would keep him out the remainder of the season. It was an interesting move that Lourdes Gurriel Jr., who has a grand total of 1 start and three games at 1st base at the big league level, pinch hit for Travis Shaw in the 8th and came in defensively the last inning. Of course, Vlad was DH'ing today and the Blue Jays would have had to pinch hit for the pitcher in the 9th as the DH would have been lost if he ha subbed defensively. Expect Vlad to platoon with Shaw going forward. If he's not at 1B Friday, there have to be serious questions about his health.
  • Like last night, the Blue Jays went pretty quietly into the night, the last 4 Blue Jays were retired in order, including Aroldis Chapman striking out the side in the 9th. It's not surprising that the Blue Jays were exhausted after playing 28 games since August 14, including a pair of double headers (it would have been 29 games, except for an unscheduled postponement due to a boycott on August 27. That game was made up September 4th in Boston). That's a lot of baseball. The Blue Jays best rest up now, because Monday is the final off day of the season and the Blue Jays play 14 times in the final 13 days of the regular season, due to a double header September 18
  • After an off day tomorrow to catch their collective breaths, the Blue Jays kick off a weekend series against the other NY team. No Marcus Stroman, as he has opted out of the 2020 season. The Blue Jays will be in tough with Jacob DeGrom set to start the opener of this series for the Mets. The Blue Jays will counter with righty Chase Anderson