| Alejandro Kirk drove in a pair and scored once in an 8-5 win over the Yankees |
After an off-day yesterday, the Blue Jays continued the homestand against the Yankees. The two teams split the 4-game series in NY a couple of weeks ago with the Blue Jays outscoring the Yankees 14-13. Alejandro Kirk was activated off the 60-day IL, Tyler Heineman was DFA'd, Daulton Varsho was placed on the 10-day IL and Davis Schneider was recalled from AAA-ball. Trey Yesavage got the start with Alejandro Kirk behind the plate. Davis Schneider got the start in LF. Andres Gimenez was at SS and Ernie Clement was at 2B. Could the Blue Jays start the weekend with a win? Here is tonight's game recap.
Game Highlights:
- The Blue Jays opened the scoring in the bottom of the 1st as Alejandro Kirk doubled scoring Ernie Clement
- A batter later, Kazuma Okamoto annihilated a 2-run bomb to the 5th deck in left; also scoring Kirk
- The Blue Jays added a pair of runs in the bottom of the 2nd as George Springer whacked a 2-run blast to left; also scoring Andres Gimenez
- The Yankees got one back in the top of the 5th on a sacy fly by Paul Goldschmidt that scored JC Escarra
- A batter later, Cody Bellinger smacked a 2-run blast to right; also scoring Ben Rice
- The Blue Jays added a run in the bottom half of the inning as Vladimir Guerrero Jr. doubled scoring Springer
- A batter later, Kirk singled home Guerrero Jr.
- Ryan Weathers pitching line: 4.1IP 5H 6R (all earned) 1BB 2K 82 pitches (52 for strikes)
- Trey Yesavage pitching line: 5IP 4H 5R (all earned) 6BB 3K 81 pitches (42 for strikes)
- The Yankees got a pair back in the top of the 6th as Trent Grisham singled scoring Spencer Jones and Jose Caballero
- The Blue Jays added a run in the bottom of the 8th as Clement doubled scoring Springer
- Louis Varland threw a perfect 9th for his 12th save of the season
- Final score: Blue Jays 8 Yankees 5
- Trey Yesavage battled through 5 innings, giving up 5 runs on 4 hits while walking 6 and striking out 3. Command was an issue once again - just too many walks and you can't be doing that against a team that is capable of going yard. He got fortunate last time he walked a bunch of batters against the Orioles when he was able to produce a bunch of double plays to escape the jams,. Not so much tonight with the Yankees scoring 3 times off him. Hopefully he just needs to tweak a few things when he throws his side session in a few days.
- The bullpen gave up 3 hits, walked a batter and struck out 5 in 4 scoreless innings. Tyler Rogers and Louis Varland both retired every batter they faced
- Welcome back Alejandro Kirk! The Blue Jays catcher made an immediate impact, overturning the first pitch of the game on an ABS challenge (he was unsuccessful in a later ABS challenge). Kirk went 3-5 at the plate with 2 RBI and a run scored. Kazuma Okamoto drover him in on a monster home run to the 5th deck in left! George Springer went deep, drew 3 walks and scored three times. Vlad drove in one run and scored a run. Nice job by the first 4 batters in the lineup. The only downside was seeing Davis Schneider go 0-2 - he should no longer be guaranteed a roster spot in spring training.
- The Yankees were 4-2 on ABS challenges
- The Blue Jays were 4-7 with runners in scoring position
- Up next, the Blue Jays try to extend the win streak to 2 games and notch their 10 series win of the season. Ace Kevin Gausman starts against Yankees righty Cam Schlittler
