The Yankees had another listless performance as they fell to the Toronto Blue Jays for a third straight time on Wednesday, this time by a final score of 6-3.
Here are the takeaways …
– Luis Gil started his night with some command issues, walking two Jays hitters in the first inning, but he got a big strikeout of Teoscar Hernandez to get out of the frame unscathed. He rebounded nicely in the second, striking out the side to give him five punchouts through his first two innings.
But those command issues popped up again in the third, as Gil walked two more before a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. single loaded the bases with one out. Yet again, Gil found his way out of trouble, recording an out on a comebacker and a strikeout of Hernandez on a 3-2 pitch to keep the game scoreless.
– Making his fourth start of the season for the Yankees, Gil set a new Yankees franchise record by starting his career with 18.2 scoreless innings.
But the flip side of that coin was Gil’s wildness. He walked the bases loaded in the fourth inning, and Aaron Boone had seen enough at that point, pulling Gil from the game. Gil became the first Yankees pitcher since Joba Chamberlain in 2009 to walk seven batters in a game. He did so in 3.1 innings, allowing only one hit and striking out six.
– Lucas Luetge was brought into the game with the bases loaded in the fourth, and he immediately spiked a wild pitch to allow the first run of the game and the first career earned run charged to Gil. With runners at second and third, Marcus Semien continued to be a thorn in the Yankees’ side, driving in both runners to make it a 3-0 game.
– In the bottom of the fifth, Brett Gardner finally came up with the big hit the Yankees have so desperately needed. With two men on and two out, Gardner slammed a three-run homer off Alek Manoah over the wall in right. Not only did Gardner’s homer tie the game at 3-3, but it was also the Yankees’ first extra-base hit since Sunday.
– The Jays recaptured the lead in the top of the seventh against Clay Holmes, as Semien was once again in the middle of the action. A single and an error on Andrew Velazquez saw Semien land at second base, and he’d eventually come in to score on a Hernandez RBI single to right, putting Toronto up 4-3.
Toronto added an insurance run against Chad Green in the eighth, as Lourdes Gurriel Jr. tripled and pinch-runner Jarrod Dyson scored on a sac fly to make it a two-run game.
– The Yankees brought Aroldis Chapman in to pitch the ninth inning trailing by two, and Guerrero greeted him with a loud line drive home run to make it a 6-3 game. It was another disastrous outing for Chapman, as he allowed the home run and walked two. His final pitch of the night sailed over the head of Dyson, and Boone pulled him there after getting two outs.
– Aaron Judge came into Wednesday’s game with four straight games going 0-for-4 or worse, but he finally broke that hitless streak with an infield single in the bottom of the seventh. Semien made a great stop but his throw could not be handled at first. Judge had been in an 0-for-22 skid before his single.
Highlights
What’s next
The Yankees and Blue Jays close out their four-game series on Thursday night at 7:05 pm.
Nestor Cortes Jr. will take the ball against Jose Berrios.
