Yankees 4 Blue Jays 8
The Jays are now four games up on the Yankees, in first place in the AL East. Life is good.
That was a wild game. I thought we were in tough against Max Fried. And yet we won by four runs. I’ll admit, my two favourite things in life are Jays wins and Yankees losses. I got both in one game (We’ll see if my wife is reading this).
Chris Bassitt was good. He went 7.1 innings and gave up three hits. The bad part: all three were home runs. But he didn’t allow a walk and had eight strikeouts.
Four runs against, three earned. A Vlad Guerrero error, just before an Aaron Judge home run, gave the Yankees the unearned run.
After the seventh inning, Bassitt signalled to John Schneider that he could go one more. He ended up going just one more batter.
Justin Bruihl came in and gave up a pair of singles, but then got a double-play ball out of Aaron Judge. He was just barely out at first. The Yankees challenged, and I was sure the call would be overturned. But it wasn’t. The Jays were very lucky on challenges today.
Yariel Rodríguez pitched the ninth, going lineout, fly out, lineout. Not a save, as we were up by four, but, in my world, it was a save.
Offensively? Well, today we have always depended on the defense of the Yankees. That’s what Blanche DuBois said, right? Jamie Campbell said the Yankees’ defense was atrocious. He’s right.
We score two runs in each of the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings.
- Fourth: Springer lined a one-out single to center. Vlad doubled down the left field line, bringing in George. Bo Bichette ground out. Alejandro Kirk walked. Addison Barger reached on an infield single. Ernie Clement singled home Vlad. Unfortunately, we didn’t score more with the bases loaded.
- Fifth: Davis Schneider reached on a one-out walk. And he went for second on a ‘wild pitch’, but was thrown out at second, well that was the call on the field. But the Jays challenged (there were a lot of challenges today), and the call was, rightly, overturned. Springer walked. Vlad tapped one towards third. It would have been an easy play for the third baseman, but pitcher Max Fried ran over and grabbed it and threw home (he had to turn and set himself). Catcher J.C. Escarra couldn’t grab it, and Schneider scored, and Springer followed him home.
- Sixth: Ernie Clement tripled to right to start the inning. Well, he didn’t really triple. Cody Bellinger lost the ball in the sky (?), and Clement got to third. Myles Straw doubled to left. Straw nicely tagged up on Nathan Lukes' fly to right. I’m not a big fan, but he can run. Then Will Wagner ground a ball to first, but Ben Rice booted it, and Straw scored. Straw going to third may have caused Rice to panic on the ground ball.
- Seventh: Vlad led off with a single to left. Jasson Dominguez bobbled it, and Vlad went to second. I have to say that I’m so happy that Mark and Ross make defense a priority. Bo Bichette followed that with a home run. Bo is a handsome man.
The Jays showed they are the better defensive team:
- Vlad made two very nice 3-1 plays at first.
- Ernie Clement turned a nice double play and made a nice play on the first out of the eighth.
- Nathan Lukes made a nice catch in right.
We had 10 hits. Springer, Vlad and Clement had two each. Nice to see Clement hitting the ball after a bad couple of weeks. Vlad and Bo had two RBI each.
Jays of the Day: Vlad (.312 WPA), and Clement (.207). Bo had a -.025 (he came up with RISP and made three times, but I’m giving him an honourable mention for the home run.
Other Award: Bassitt had a -.124...but I’m not giving him the ‘award’ because he gave us 7.1 great innings.
Tomorrow we start a series with the Tigers in Detroit. Eric Lauer (5-2, 2.80) vs. Reese Olson (4-3, 2.71) (what sort of person names their kid Reese? Who’d want to be stuck with a name like that) (I’m just checking to see if my friend Reese is still following the site).
More from bluebirdbanter.com:
- Smoak homers twice, Jays beat Red Sox
- Bluebird Banter Top 40 Update - July 13
- Blue Jays Roster Moves: Estrada DL, Dwight Smith up
- Blue Jays mid-term report card: Grade Teoscar Hernandez’ first half
- One bad inning costs the Blue Jays
- Around The Nest - Blue Jays Minor League Podcast - Week 14
- Blue Jays mid-term report card: Grade Yangervis Solarte’s first half
