Series Recap: Series 1 vs. Blue Jays
Nothing is more exciting than Opening Day baseball. Aces on the mound, a first look at the lineup cards, and everybody has the same stat line. Let’s jump right into it with Game 1.
Game 1 (Blue Jays 3, Yankees 2)
Gerrit Cole stepped to the mound in front of fans for the first time since he signed with the Yankees. His father was also in attendance. The first inning was clean and the nerves were out of the way. Hyun-Jin Ryu started for Toronto and cruised through his first inning as well.
In the second inning, a barrage of singles temporarily derailed the Cole Train, resulting in only one run, but then Gerrit settled in. In the bottom half of the inning, after a Torres single, Gary Sánchez hit the first home run of the season for the Bombers. It was a 2-run shot just over the left field wall, and it gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead.
Cole did not allow a hit in the 3rd or 4th innings, and only allowed a single in the 5th frame. Unfortunately, the Yankees did not expand on their 2-1 lead before Teoscar Hernandez absolutely launched a hanging slider from Cole to knot the game up. Cole faced one more batter, walking Vlad Guerrero Jr. before being removed from the game (final line: 5.1 IP, 2 ER, 8 Ks).
Chad Green got the next five outs (the last of which occurred by way of a caught stealing where Sánchez threw a bullet that beat Randal Grichuk to second base), which kept the game tied. It was surprising to see Green enter the game so early, considering Aroldis Chapman’s two-game suspension and Zack Britton’s injury. Green was expected to be more of a late-inning option, but Boone decided to throw him into a middle-inning high-leverage situation.
After Green’s final batter, the Yankees put men on the bases in their bottom half of the 7th inning. Gary Sánchez beat out an infield single, Clint Frazier hit a Texas-leaguer for a single, and D.J. LeMahieu walked to load the bases for Aaron Judge with one out. Ex-Yankee David Phelps was on the mound for Toronto and missed the zone with the first two pitches, a knuckle-curve and a sinker. He then grooved a 90 mph fastball, which Judge took for a strike. The next pitch was a 92 mph sinker, and Judge hit it right at third baseman Cavan Biggio for an inning-ending double play.
Jonathan Loaisiga pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 8th frame. Then, Darren O’Day pitched a scoreless 9th inning in his first outing as a Yankee. In the bottom of the 9th, the Yankees were 90 feet away from winning the game. To start the inning, Gary Sánchez walked and was pinch-run for by Mike Tauchman. Tauchman stole second before Jay Bruce struck out, then stole third before Clint Frazier walked. Brett Gardner pinch ran for Frazier, so there was 1 out with Tauchman on third and Gardner on first. The lineup had also turned over to the top, so D.J. LeMahieu stepped in. LeMahieu made contact, but it was a groundball right at Biggio, who fired home — getting Tauchman, who was running on contact, out at the plate. Judge stepped in with a chance to redeem himself, but struck out on 5 pitches against Toronto’s Jordan Romano.
In the top of the 10th, Nick Nelson took the mound for the Yankees with a runner on second base (the extra-inning rule where a runner starts on second base in effect for the 2021 season). Randal Grichuk hit a sharp line drive just over the head of Judge in right field. Judge had trouble playing the carom off the wall and the runner scored from second base as Grichuk cruised to second for a double. Nelson struck out the next three hitters and it was then the Yankees turn to bat with a free runner in scoring position.
One of the most impressive players in the game was Julian Merryweather. As Toronto’s newly anointed closer, he had his first save opportunity in front of him. Merryweather struck out Aaron Hicks on 3 pitches, then did the same to Giancarlo Stanton. He reached an 0-2 count on Gleyber Torres and was a strike away from an immaculate inning, but then he missed the zone with a slider. Torres then fouled another pitch off before swinging through a 99 mph four-seam fastball to end the game.
Yankee of the Day — Gary Sanchez (1): 2 for 3, R, HR, 2 RBI, BB, and 1 defensive caught stealing.
Game 2 (Yankees 5, Blue Jays 3)
Photo Via: Jim McIsaacThe ‘Klubot’ made his Yankees debut on a nice Saturday afternoon and he immediately faced adversity. Marcus Semien led off the game with an infield single, then stole second base. Cavan Biggio, the very next batter, hit a popup to shallow left field. Clint Frazier lost the ball in the sun, so it dropped in for a single. Kluber looked unphased, and delivered a first pitch cutter to Bo Bichette, which was softly hit on the ground. Third baseman Gio Urshela made an excellent play going to his left, fielding the ball, throwing to second base for the first out, and then LeMahieu fired to first base for the second out of the double play. Kluber then struck out Teoscar Hernandez to get out of the inning unscathed.
In the second inning, Kluber used another ground-ball double play to his advantage. The Yankees then put ducks on the pond with 2 outs when it was their turn to bat in the second frame. Urshela singled, then Frazier doubled, bringing up LeMahieu. D.J. hit a slow grounder towards Biggio, resulting in a run-scoring infield single. Aaron Judge stepped in with runners on the corners and 2 outs, but grounded out to the shortstop Bichette to end the inning.
Kluber put himself into trouble in the third inning, but did not get the defensive help necessary to work around it this time. After striking out Grichuk to begin the inning, Kluber walked Danny Jansen and Marcus Semien back-to-back. He then threw a wild pitch (Sánchez nearly threw out Jansen at third base), so Jansen advanced to third and Semien stayed put at first. In the same at bat, Kluber threw strike three to get Biggio out, but Semien was running on the pitch. Sánchez fired to second base, but the ball bounced and got away from Torres and into centerfield, so Jansen advanced home to tie the game. The Klubot then struck out Bo Bichette to end the inning.
In the 4th inning, Kluber worked into and out of trouble. He loaded the bases on two singles and a walk, but was able to retire Jansen without any damage. Sánchez smashed a towering home run to lead off the bottom of the 4th, giving the Yankees a 2-1 lead for the second consecutive game. The inning continued with a Frazier walk, LeMahieu single, and Judge single to load the bases. Aaron Hicks was able to put the bat on the ball (something that did not often occur this series) and sneak in an infield RBI single to expand the lead to 3-1.
Kluber faced one batter in the 5th inning, and the result was not great. Marcus Semien hit a solo home run to left field, forcing Boone to go to the bullpen with a 3-2 lead. Jonathan Loaisiga entered and made quick work of Toronto. He pitched the 5th and 6th innings, going 6 up, 6 down with 3 strikeouts. In the bottom of the 6th, Jay Bruce (on his birthday) hit a popup that found a home in the outfield grass, giving the Yankees two more runs (5-2 score) and allowing Yankees fans to take a deep breath.
Lucas Luetge made his Yankees debut in the top of the 7th inning after an impressive Spring Training performance. After hitting a leadoff single, Grichuk quickly found himself standing on third base thanks to two wild pitches. After a strikeout, the Yankees traded the second out for a run on a ground out from Semien. Luetge managed to get Biggio out and the inning ended with the Yankees leading 5-3.
Darren O’Day surrendered two incredibly unlucky singles to begin the 8th, then recorded two outs before manager Aaron Boone decided to go to Chad Green for a 4-out save. This was the role most people expected for Green for this series. Green struck out Tellez to end the 8th and pitched an uneventful 9th inning for the save.
All in all, Kluber’s debut was a success and his postgame comments praising Gary Sánchez for his game-calling ability was reassuring. In fact, Kluber said that he believes he did not shake off a Sánchez pitch call for any of his 74 pitches.
Yankee of the Day — Jonathan Loaisiga (1): 2 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 R, 3 Ks, W.
Game 3 (Blue Jays 3, Yankees 1)
The Yankees played some Easter Sunday afternoon baseball, and boy was it not exciting. Most of the action occurred in the second inning. Domingo Germán, unlike Kluber, constantly shook off pitch calls from Sánchez. This occurred in Vlad Guerrero Jr.’s first at bat, when Sánchez wanted to attack Vlad on the inside edge of the zone. Germán shook for Gary to set up outside, and Guerrero Jr. went with the fastball to right field, parking it deep into the seats for a 1-0 lead. Germán missed his spot against Gurriel Jr., the very next batter, when he left a curveball over the middle. Gurriel Jr. hit it into left field for a single, bringing up Randal Grichuk. Germán shook off Sánchez multiple times in this at bat as well, and could not put away Grichuk, who fouled off three consecutive pitches with two strikes. Germán then left a changeup right down the upper middle of the zone, and Grichuk absolutely launched it for a two-run blast.
It took Germán 68 pitches to get through three innings, and he did not see the fourth. After Gardner and LeMahieu singles in the 3rd, Judge grounded into another killer inning-ending double play. Aside from a 5th inning run that was scored by Clint Frazier, who doubled and was brought home by a Gardner groundout, the Yankees bats were silenced.
The Yankees only utilized one bullpen arm despite Germán’s 3-inning outing. Mike King allowed the first two batters he faced to reach base, but then he dominated for six consecutive innings by retiring 16 consecutive batters. King kept the team in the game and saved the Yankees from entering the next series against Baltimore with a depleted bullpen.
Yankee of the Day — Mike King (1): 6 IP, 1H, 1 BB, 0 R, 3 Ks.
Series Totals
Hitting
D.J. LeMahieu: 3 for 11 (.273 AVG), 3 BB (.429 OBP), 1 RBI, 0 Ks (.701 OPS)
Aaron Judge: 3 for 14 (.214 AVG), 0 BB (.214 OBP), 0 RBI, 3 Ks (.429 OPS)
Aaron Hicks: 1 for 12 (.083 AVG), 2 BB (.214 OBP), 1 RBI, 7 Ks (.298 OPS)
Giancarlo Stanton: 0 for 8 (.000 AVG), 2 BB (.200 OBP), 0 RBI, 3 Ks (.200 OPS)
Gleyber Torres: 3 for 12 (.250 AVG), 2 BB (.357 OBP), 0 RBI, 4 Ks (.690 OPS)
Gary Sánchez: 3 for 11 (.273 AVG), 1 BB (.333 OBP), 3 RBI, 1 K (1.152 OPS)
Jay Bruce: 2 for 10 (.200 AVG), 2 BB (.333 OBP), 2 RBI, 3 Ks (.533 OPS)
Gio Urshela: 2 for 11 (.182 AVG), 0 BB (.182 OBP), 0 RBI, 5 Ks (.364 OPS)
Clint Frazier: 4 for 9 (.444 AVG), 2 BB (.545 OBP), 0 RBI, 2 Ks (1.212 OPS)
Brett Gardner: 1 for 3 (.333 AVG), 0 BB (.333 OBP), 1 RBI, 1 K (.667 OPS)
Mike Tauchman: 2 SBs (pinch run)
Tyler Wade: 0 PA (pinch run and defensive replacement)
Kyle Higashioka: 0 PA (defensive replacement)
Pitching
Gerrit Cole: 5.1 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 1 HR, 8 Ks, 3.38 ERA, 1.31 WHIP
Corey Kluber: 4.0 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 1 HBP, 1 HR, 5 Ks, 1 WP, 2.25 ERA, 2.00 WHIP
Domingo Germán: 3.0 IP, 0-1 W-L, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 2 HR, 2 Ks, 1 WP, 9.00 ERA, 1.67 WHIP
Mike King: 6.0 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 BB, 0 HR, 3 Ks, 0.00 ERA, 0.33 WHIP
Jonathan Loaisiga: 3.0 IP, 1-0 W-L, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 4 Ks, 0.00 ERA, 0.00 WHIP
Chad Green: 3.0 IP, 1 SV, 0 R, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 2 Ks, 0.00 ERA, 0.33 WHIP
Darren O’Day: 1.2 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 1 K, 0.00 ERA, 1.80 WHIP
Nick Nelson: 1.0 IP, 0-1 W-L, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 3 Ks, 0.00 ERA, 1.00 WHIP
Lucas Luetge: 1.0 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 1 K, 2 WPs, 9.00 ERA, 1.00 WHIP