Series Recap: Yanks Lose Battle Versus Blue Jays
Photo Via: Charles Wenzelberg — NY Post (click for link)Sure, the Yankees played a series this week against the divisional opponent Toronto Blue Jays, but what happened off the field was much more of the storyline than what happened at Yankee Stadium. The injury bug bit again and there is now cause for great concern. However, let’s get to the games first, where the Blue Jays took 2 out of 3 and ended the Yankees’ 7 consecutive series win streak.
Game 1 (Blue Jays 6, Yankees 2)
This game was a real clunker by the Yanks, but the single-game loss was not as devastating as the one that occurred on the mound. Corey Kluber — fresh off his no-hitter — exited the game after 3 innings with an apparent injury (more on this later). While in the game, Kluber had a tough time locating his pitches, and it led to a few walks and this oppo taco by Vlad Guerrero Jr.
Meanwhile, Steven Matz was slicing and dicing the Yankees hitters with ease. He struck out 7 through 3 innings and you can tell it was going to be a tough night of work for the Bombers. The dominance continued, but the shutout was avoided thanks to hits by Clint Frazier and Kyle Higashioka.
In whole, it was just a bad game. The Yanks tacked on one more run on a Higashioka double combined with a fielding error by the Blue Jays, so the final score was 6-2. Not exciting.
Yankee of the Day: Clint Frazier (2): 2 for 4, 2B, R.
Game 2 (Blue Jays 2, Yankees 0) (7 Innings - Doubleheader)
Wednesday night’s game was rained out, which was great for Yankees/Knicks fans who got to watch the first playoff win in nearly a decade. It also forced a doubleheader on Thursday for the Bombers.
Alek Manoah made his major league debut for the Blue Jays and he was brilliant. Just like Matz, he put the Yankees away one after another. His counterpart, Domingo Germán did not have his best stuff, but not his worst either. He also got a little help from expert pitch framer Kyle Higashioka.
Germán surrendered back-to-back home runs to Marcus Semien and Bo Bichette. Those were really the only true mistakes he made, but in a 7-inning game it was costly. He left a fastball middle-in to Semien and changeup middle-middle to Bichette. That is not what you want.
Manoah ended his debut with 6 shutout innings and 7 strikeouts. Jordan Romano got the save for the Jays. The Yankees lost 2-0.
Yankee of the Day: Lucas Luetge (1): 1.1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 BB, 3 K, 0.00 ERA.
Game 3 (Blue Jays 3, Yankees 5) (7 Innings - Doubleheader)
This game had the most excitement of the three. Jordan Montgomery and Robbie Ray, a pair of lefty veterans, faced off for the night game of a doubleheader affair.
Montgomery was coming off his masterful performance against the White Sox, but did not miss bats Thursday night. He only struck one batter out all game. But Monty was given a first inning lead when Gio Urshela doubled, scoring LeMahieu, but resulting in an out at the plate by Aaron Judge.
The 1-0 lead was nice, but it did not feel like the Yankees’ night when Clint Frazier missed a home run by this much on his way to striking out.
Gio Urshela continued turning double plays, but Montgomery could not get out of the inning before giving up the lead. All with 2 outs, Gumby allowed two baserunners and then a 3-run homer to Bo Bichette, who seems to be doing all of his damage against the Yankees this season.
Winning this game started to feel like an impossibility. The Yankees looked sluggish and after the onslaught of injuries and bad offense, it seemed like the script was written. But then Robbie Ray fell behind 3-0 to Aaron Judge and made a major mistake. Judge had swung at a 3-0 pitch in the afternoon game and fouled it right back. He did not miss it at all in the night game.
Then I had 2016 flashbacks in the 4th inning. El Gary blasted one 444 feet and the Yankees miraculously had the lead!
Montgomery got another double play ball in the 5th, but put a runner (Semien) on base after. Boone brought in Jonathan Loaisiga to face Bo Bichette with 2 outs, and the at bat went 8 pitches. Loaisiga froze Bichette with a filthy slider.
Judge tacked on a sacrifice fly to provide some breathing room.
Loaisiga gave up 3 hits in the 6th inning, but Tyler Wade helped him out a bunch by turning a smart double play. Wade tracked down Guerrero, tagged him, and made a quick throw to first base in time to nab Teoscar Hernández.
Wandy Peralta came in to face pinch-hitter Rowdy Tellez, which was a great move by Aaron Boone. Boone had Peralta warming up despite all right-handed hitters due up just because he knew the Jays can pinch-hit with lefties Tellez and Joe Panik. Peralta retired Tellez with one pitch.
Estevan Florial roped a double to the left field wall and bench coach Carlos Mendoza, who is filling in as the third base coach while Phil Nevin is out due to COVID protocols, had the most questionable send of the year. Gary Sánchez rounded third and was out at the plate by about 40 feet.
Chad Green — not Aroldis Chapman — entered for the save opportunity. After the game, it was revealed by Aaron Boone that Chapman is not with the team due to an illness, but that he has repeatedly tested negative for COVID.
Green retired the side in order, without a strikeout. This season has been interesting for Green. He only has a 7.9 K/9 in 2021. Over the previous four seasons, that number was 13.4, 11.2, 12.8, and 11.2. His peripheral numbers seem to be fine, but he switched from the slider to the curveball last season and his strikeout numbers have been a bit down since. As long as Green’s ERA stays in the neighborhood where it resides now (2.16), it will not matter.
Yankee of the Day: Aaron Judge (7): 1 for 1, HR, BB, R, 3 RBI. Sacrifice fly.
Series Talking Points
Kluber/Voit/Hicks Injuries: The Yankees got through the first quarter of the 2021 season in an uncharacteristically healthy way, to a degree. Now, Corey Kluber, Luke Voit, and Aaron Hicks will all have extended trips to the injured list. In fact, Aaron Boone said it is expected that Aaron Hicks is out for the season. Hicks had surgery to repair a torn tendon in his wrist. We all know Hicks was having a tough year, but finding a centerfielder to play everyday is no easy task. The Yanks will have to get by with Brett Gardner in centerfield most of the time. Boone hinted that Clint Frazier could end up in centerfield at times, but I do not love the idea of that. Tyler Wade has played some in center, which I would prefer over Frazier. Estevan Florial came up for the third game of this season, but went right back down to Triple-A. There were rumors of a Delino DeShields trade to the Yankees this past week, but nothing appears imminent. Maybe Cashman is working on grabbing an outfielder to fill the gap.
The Corey Kluber injury was a true gut-punch. Immediately after throwing a no-hitter, Kluber exited with shoulder soreness. He had an MRI the next day and we learned that Kluber would be shut down for at least 4 weeks and would take another 4 weeks to ramp up. That means a minimum of 8 weeks without The Klubot. He has a 3.04 ERA in what has been a fantastic comeback season, so to see him exit with a similar injury that kept him out last season is frustrating as ever.
Luke Voit just came back from a torn meniscus this month. Now, he goes on the 10-day injured list due to a grade 2 oblique strain. The injury will keep him out for longer than 10 days. It is the same grade injury that kept Judge sidelined for 54 games in the past. As far as Voit’s replacement, obviously the Yankees can slide LeMahieu to first base and put Odor/Wade at second. Just as likely, the Yankees will start Mike Ford at first and keep LeMahieu at second. However, I would call up Chris Gittens to start every day at first base and keep LeMahieu at second base. Gittens has a 1.119 OPS in Triple-A with 4 home runs and a .471 OBP. “Hard Hittin’ Chris Gittens” was not a nickname born for no reason. The issue is he does not have an option, so once Voit comes back, the Yankees would have to either DFA him or keep him on the 26-man roster.
Series Totals
Hitting
D.J. LeMahieu: 2 for 5 (.400 AVG), 1 BB (.500 OBP), 2 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 2 K (.900 OPS), 0 SB
Aaron Judge: 2 for 7 (.286 AVG), 2 BB (.400 OBP), 1 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 2 K (1.114 OPS), 0 SB
Gio Urshela: 2 for 7 (.286 AVG), 0 BB (.286 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K (.714 OPS), 0 SB
Luke Voit: 1 for 4 (.250 AVG), 0 BB (.250 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 1 K (.500 OPS), 0 SB
Gleyber Torres: 0 for 9 (.000 AVG), 1 BB (.100 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 1 K (.100 OPS), 0 SB
Gary Sánchez: 2 for 7 (.286 AVG), 0 BB (.000 OBP), 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 K (1.000 OPS), 0 SB
Clint Frazier: 2 for 10 (.200 AVG), 0 BB (.200 OBP), 1 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 3 K (.500 OPS), 0 SB
Brett Gardner: 0 for 5 (.000 AVG), 1 BB (.167 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 4 K (.167 OPS), 0 SB
Kyle Higashioka: 2 for 6 (.333 AVG), 0 BB (.333 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 1 RBI, 2 K (.833 OPS), 0 SB
Mike Ford: 0 for 3 (.000 AVG), 0 BB (.000 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 2 K (.000 OPS), 0 SB
Miguel Andújar: 2 for 6 (.333 AVG), 0 BB (.333 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 K (.667 OPS), 0 SB
Rougned Odor: 0 for 5 (.000 AVG), 2 BB (.286 OBP), 1 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 5 K (.286 OPS), 0 SB
Tyler Wade: 0 for 2 (.000 AVG), 0 BB (.000 OBP), 1 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 1 K (.000 OPS), 1 SB
Estevan Florial: 1 for 3 (.333 AVG), 0 BB (.333 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 1 K (1.000 OPS), 0 SB
Pitching
Corey Kluber: 3 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 H, 3 BB, 1 HR, 5 Ks, 6.00 ERA
Domingo Germán: 5.2 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 2 HR, 5 Ks, 3.18 ERA
Jordan Montgomery: 4.2 IP, 3 R, 3 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 1 HR, 1 K, 5.79 ERA
Michael King: 3 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 1 HR, 3 K, 3.00 ERA
Justin Wilson: 1 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 HR, 0 Ks, 9.00 ERA
Lucas Luetge: 2.1 IP, 2 R, 0 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 5 Ks, 0.00 ERA
Wandy Peralta: 0.1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 0 Ks, 0.00 ERA
Luis Cessa: 1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 0 Ks, 0.00 ERA
Chad Green: 1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 0 Ks, 1 SV, 0.00 ERA
Jonathan Loaisiga: 1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 1 K, W, 0.00 ERA
Aroldis Chapman: No appearances.
Jameson Taillon: No appearances.
Gerrit Cole: No appearances.
Nick Nelson: No appearances.