Yankees takeaways from Tuesday's 7-1 loss to Blue Jays, including offense missing in action
The Yankees offense had no answers for Blue Jays starter Yusei Kikuchi as New York lost 7-1 to Toronto on Tuesday night in the Bronx.
Takeaways
- It was an inauspicious start for Clarke Schmidt on Tuesday. George Springer led off the game with a solo shot over the right-field wall. He then walked Bo Bichette on five pitches, but a double play and a ground out ended the first with the Yanks down just 1-0.
The Yankees offense would answer in the bottom of the first as a Gleyber Torres double in the gap drove home Aaron Judge, who singled.
- Schmidt would settle down until the fourth inning when the defense scuffled. After a leadoff single to Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. grounded to third but Oswald Peraza threw the ball away to put men on first and third with no one out. Cavan Biggio singled to give the Jays the lead. Schmidt would work out of further trouble to keep the score 2-1 in favor of Toronto.
In the fifth, Schmidt had trouble putting Springer away after getting ahead 0-2 with two outs in the inning. The Jays' leadoff man walked before Bichette launched a 390-foot blast over the right-center field wall to put the Jays up 4-1.
Schmidt was not as solid as he has been, having a little trouble with command and having the inability to get batters to swing and miss. He went five innings (91 pitches) giving up four runs on four hits, two walks and struck out one batter.
- Aside from the run scored in the first, the Yankees offense had a rough time getting to starter Yusei Kikuchi. The left-hander mowed down the Yankees lineup for seven strikeouts but had to leave after walking DJ LeMahieu to leadoff the sixth. Kikuchi looked to have strained a muscle in his neck/back area and was taken out.
Torres would pick up a one-out single to bring Giancarlo Stanton up as the tying run, but the slugger grounded out into an inning-ending double play to a chorus of boos from the Yankee Stadium faithful. Stanton finished 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and is 2 for his last 34 with 16 strikeouts.
Kikuchi went five-plus innings (82 pitches), giving up one run on four hits and one walk.
- Alejandro Kirk hit a two-run shot in the ninth inning off of Zach McAllister. A throwing error by Anthony Volpe allowed Kevin Kiermaier, who reached on a double, to score and put the Blue Jays up 7-1.
Overall, the Yankees had just six hits, leaving three men on base and going 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position. Judge and Torres had two hits each while LeMahieu and Isiah Kiner-Falefa accounted for all the Yankee hits, all singles aside from Torres' RBI double.
Highlights
What’s Next
The Yankees continue their three-game series with the Blue Jays on Wednesday night. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
The Yankees will send Michael King (4-6, 2.77 ERA) to the mound and he will be opposed by RHP Kevin Gausman (11-9, 3.40 ERA).
