So many Yankees’ games — including the wins — have come right down to the wire, especially against any team remotely good. On Saturday afternoon, the Yankees hardly won in a blowout, but for once, they didn’t have you covering your eyes in the ninth inning.
While the Yankees’ offense hardly ran away with the game, on Saturday, the Yankees’ pitching staff held their own to get the team a much needed win over the Blue Jays. Luis Gil was good again, scattering just a couple hits over six innings. Then,
the bullpen stepped up, finishing off the last three innings without much issue. This was a game the Yankees probably needed to have for their AL East hopes, and they did so, coming away with a big 3-1 win.
The Yankees struck first, getting on the board in the second inning. With Cody Bellinger on after a walk, a Jazz Chisholm could’ve been double play grounder ended up with runners on the corners instead. First, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. got a glove on but couldn’t corral Chisholm’s grounder, deflecting towards Andrés Giménez at second. However, he too deflected it, sending the ball into right field, turning two outs into none. Jasson Domínguez then took advantage and dropped a single into center field to score a run.
Later in the inning, a diving catch from Addison Barger robbed Austin Wells of a possible bases-clearing hit, but did scored Chisholm for a sacrifice fly and a 2-0 lead.
Toronto got in the run column themselves in the fourth. As he can sometimes do, Gil got himself into some trouble with walks, putting the first two runners of the inning on base. He then induced two straight ground balls, but the Yankees infield just couldn’t quite turn a double play on either of them. That allowed Bo Bichette, the first batter to walk, to advance to third and then score on the ground balls.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Yankees missed out on a chance for some insurance. With a runner on third, Cody Bellinger hit a ground ball with two outs, but appeared to have reached first safely after the throw pulled Guerrero off the bag. However on review, Guerrero was ruled to have just got a glove on Bellinger’s spike, preventing a run from scoring. That very nearly had an immediate bad impact.
With two outs and Bichette on second after a double, Nathan Lukes dropped a single into right field. Bellinger came up firing with Bichette rounding third, and Bellinger’s throw ended up being right on the money. Austin Wells fielding it cleanly and tagged out Bichette on a play at the plate, ending the inning and preserving the lead.
As it happened, right at the end of that inning, the tarp was brought onto the field as the rain continued to pick up. At times, it seemed like the rain may be persistent enough that it would be tough to resume play, but it the game eventually started back up after a little more than an hour.
The rain delay did lead to the end of Gil’s day, although with 90 pitches, he might not have come back out for the seventh anyway. It was a perfectly solid day for him, as he allowed one run on three hits and four walks. It was again the wildness that was the main negative about his performance, but it didn’t haunt him too much.
After the delay ended, the Yankees’ offense restarted the game with some action. With Domínguez on thanks to a walk, Anthony Volpe doubled to set the inning up. Wells could only manage a fly ball, but it was deep enough for Domínguez to tag up and score. The inning was also a bit of a missed opportunity, as before all that happened, Chisholm had singled to lead off the inning, only to get thrown out trying to steal second.
Luke Weaver replaced Gil for the seventh and allowed a lead-off double to Isiah Kiner-Falefa before getting two easy fly outs. Aaron Boone then went back to the bullpen and brought in Fernando Cruz. He walked a batter before getting Barger to ground out to end the threat.
Cruz came back out for the eighth and allowed an infield single to Guerrero to start, but bounced back to get the next two outs. Called upon for a possible four-out save, closer David Bednar started it off by striking out Lukes. Bednar got the last three outs of those four without much drama, as he threw a pretty easy ninth inning.
This important divisional clash will wrap up with one more meeting tomorrow afternoon. Max Fried and Max Scherzer are scheduled to be the starting pitchers, with the game starting at 1:35 p.m. ET.
