It was always going to be a tall task facing burgeoning Yankee killer Trey Yesavage, so it certainly does not help when your own starter coughs up three runs in the first inning and two more in the second. Ryan Weathers simply did not have it today, and the Blue Jays rained the extra-base hits off his two-strike pitches. Particularly alarming has been the rate at which balls are flying out of the yard, the two he served up today giving him 15 on the year — fifth-most in the majors. All in all, not an auspicious
start to an important series in Toronto, the Yankees eventually falling, 8-5.
The moment Ernie Clement reached on an infield dribbler with one out in the first, you wondered if it would be one of those days in Toronto. Indeed, two batters later, Alejandro Kirk lined an RBI double into the left-center gap. He’s one of many of the Blue Jays’ Yankee killers to make his presence felt on the day, playing in his first game since April 3rd after suffering a broken thumb. Weathers got to 0-2 on the next batter Kazuma Okamoto, but a 2-2 slider that caught a little too much plate was deposited into the fifth deck in left for a two-run tank. It must have been frustrating for two pitches on the corner down and in to get slugged like that, but that’s baseball.
Weathers’ fortunes only worsened from there. He got two quick ground outs to open the second, but barely grazed Andrés Giménez’s arm guard with a first pitch sinker, and again you had this ominous feeling of inevitability. Weathers got to 2-2 against George Springer, but grooved a changeup right down the middle that Springer gleefully hit over the bullpen in left to make it 5-0. Springer entered the game batting .204 with an 80 wRC+ and -0.3 fWAR, but true to form he never misses an opportunity to kill the Yankees.
I suppose it stings even more to suffer a clunker from your starter on a day that Yesavage actually looked mortal against the Yankees. He has suffered with command after the start of his season was delayed a month by a shoulder impingement, and he issued six free passes on the night. However, the Yankees could not immediately take advantage, their only hit through the first four innings a Jazz Chisholm Jr. single to lead off the second. In fact, that second inning would prove a golden opportunity to score early. Yesavage walked José Caballero and Ryan McMahon to load the bases with one out. However, J.C. Escarra had a miserable AB striking out on three pitches and Trent Grisham popped out to leave all three ducks on the pond.
In the fifth, Escarra led off with a double to the wall in left-center, which if you can believe it was the first hit by a Yankees catcher since May 30th, snapping an 0-for-29 skid. A Grisham grounder moved Escarra to third and Ben Rice walked to put runners on the corners with one out for Paul Goldschmidt. He drove in his 29th run of the year with a sac fly to the opposite field on an 0-2 fastball. Cody Bellinger kept up the momentum, jumping on an elevated first pitch splitter and lining it just over the wall in right for a two-run homer, his tenth of the year, to cut the deficit to 5-3.
Though Weathers looked like he might settle down with a scoreless third and fourth and maybe give the Yankees some length, a walk of Springer in the fifth convinced Boone to pull his starter from the game for Jake Bird. Unfortunately, he continues to allow hits at an alarming rate, giving up an RBI double to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. followed by an RBI single to Kirk, both on sinkers in the zone, as the Blue Jays reestablished a four-run cushion.
That wrapped up Weathers’ final line at six runs on five hits and a walk with two strikeouts in 4.1 innings. He is now the only Yankees starter with an ERA north of four at 4.36. This is the fourth time in the last five starts that he has given up at least five runs, his home run per nine rate creeping up toward two. It’s notable that he was seen warming on Wednesday with Aaron Boone confirming after the game that he was in play as a reliever with the bullpen overworked, perhaps foreshadowing a future move to the ‘pen once Max Fried returns from his elbow injury.
The Yankees hitters certainly cannot be faulted for their effort, and they continued to chip away in the middle innings. Spencer Jones drew his second walk of the contest to lead off the sixth and Caballero doubled him to third on a 1-0 hanging slider. That spelled the end of Yesavage’s night, John Schneider calling on the lefty Mason Fluharty out of the ‘pen. A soft grounder by pinch-hitter Amed Rosario allowed Caballero to advance to second but put two outs on the board.
That gave Grisham the opportunity to come through in the clutch as he lined a 2-2 sweeper up the middle for a two-run single to again reduce the deficit to two runs, 7-5. The bad news is that Grisham appeared to stumble and pull up a little lame rounding first and advancing to second on the throw home, and he immediately left the game with what was later described as right hamstring tightness, Max Schuemann replacing him in the outfield.
They kept giving themselves chances to complete the comeback, again loading the bases in the seventh on a leadoff single from Goldschmidt, a one out walk from Jazz, and a two out infield single by Caballero. Ryan McMahon put a charge into a hanging 0-1 curveball from Braydon Fisher, but Myles Straw caught it just shy of the warning track in dead center as the Yankees again stranded three.
Clement tacked on an insurance run for Toronto in the eighth, slapping an RBI double down the line in right against Fernando Cruz. Schuemann did a hell of a job to corral the ball quickly and hit the cutoff man, but Springer beat out Goldschmidt’s throw home by a finger. New York would go down in order in the ninth to seal the series opening loss, 8-5, as they went 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position and stranded nine.
The Rogers Centre remains their personal house of horrors as they have now lost nine of their last ten games there. They will nervously await further news on Grisham’s hamstring as he’s been such a valuable contributor leading off since the start of May. They look to even the series tomorrow with Cam Schlittler on the mound to face Kevin Gausman. First pitch is scheduled for 3:07 pm EDT with the broadcast remaining on YES.
