Yankees takeaways from Wednesday’s 3-0 loss to Blue Jays, including falling short in a pitcher's duel
It was a pitcher’s duel Wednesday night in Toronto with the Blue Jays getting the better of the Yankees, as New York lost 3-0 in 10 innings.
Takeaways
-Oswaldo Cabrera was in at shortstop with Anthony Volpe given the day off. His first test was not good, throwing the ball too high and pulling Anthony Rizzo off first base for an error. Bo Bichette followed up with a grounder that bounced off of Cole’s glove, but he recovered and covered first base but could not handle the lob from Rizzo, another error. Cole would bounce back, getting Daulton Varsho to pop out, and striking out Matt Chapman and Brandon Belt to end the inning.
Cole got into trouble in the third by loading the bases but would escape without giving up a run. The Yankees ace pitched six shutout innings to give his team a chance. Cole came out in the seventh, but gave up back-to-back singles to lead off before Aaron Boone pulled him.
The final line for Cole: 6+ IP (104 pitches/70 strikes), five hits, two walks and six strikeouts.
- Clay Holmes relieved Cole and got out of the jam. He got Bichette to pop out, Varsho to strike out and Chapman to ground out to end the Blue Jays threat. Jimmy Cordero -- who was the opener on Monday -- came out for the eighth. He gave up a leadoff single to Belt and an infield single to Whit Merrifield. Alejandro Kirk hit a liner to Volpe who caught it and quickly threw it to Gleyber Torres to double up a pinch-running Cavan Biggio at second. Santiago Espinal flew out to end the threat.
Michael King pitched the ninth and walked two -- the first time this season King had multiple walks in a game -- but eventually got out of it. Wandy Peralta came out for the 10th and got a ground ball, but Volpe could not come up with it, the Yankees' third error of the game. After getting a groundout, Danny Jansen hit a three-run home run to end the game.
After getting 18 outs Tuesday, the bullpen did an admirable job on Wednesday. Here's how the bullpen broke down:
Holmes: 1 IP, one strikeout
Cordero: 1 IP, two hits, one walk
King: 1 IP, two walks
Peralta: 0.1 IP, one hit, two earned runs
- On the other side, Chris Bassitt flummoxed the Yankees lineup, scattering walks and hits to get through seven innings with relative ease. Bassitt used his large array of pitches to keep the Yankees off balance and get weak contact from New York’s lineup.
Bassitt, who pitched a complete game shutout against the Atlanta Braves in his last start, did not give up a run in his outing against the Yankees on Wednesday. Dating back to May 5, Bassitt has thrown 23 straight scoreless innings. His final line: 7 IP (97 pitches/66 strikes), three hits, one walk and seven strikeouts.
- The Yankees had their chance against the Blue Jays bullpen in the eighth inning. After Aaron Judge drew a two-out walk, Rizzo walked to put men on first and second for DJ LeMahieu. LeMahieu walked to bring up Volpe who pinch-hit for Jake Bauers. Volpe came into Wednesday hitting .150 against lefties, and that trend continued after he struck out looking.
In the 10th inning, Cabrera grounded out to move Isiah Kiner-Falefa to third base. Torres struck out and after Judge was intentionally walked, Jordan Romano struck out Rizzo to keep the Yankees off the board.
The Yankees had three hits all game, one from Judge, Harrison Bader and Willie Calhoun.
Highlights
What’s Next
The Yankees wrap up their four-game series with the Blue Jays on Thursday night starting at 7:07 p.m. in Toronto.
Nestor Cortes is scheduled to pitch against Jose Berrios.
