The New York Yankees faced off against the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday afternoon. With Jameson Taillon on the mound, the Yankees extracted another victory, extending their streak to nine games.
Taillon performed valiantly, lasting 5.2 innings and allowing four hits, striking out eight batters over 88 pitches. The bullpen was magnificent as well, with Michael King lasting 2.0 innings and striking out three batters. Of course, Clay Holmes was dominant, striking out one batter over 1.1 innings.
The Yankees have been near unstoppable the past few weeks, with their most recent defeat coming on June 8 against Minnesota Twins.
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Good news and bad news as Yankees blank Toronto in easy win:
The Yankees feature one of the league’s best starting pitching rotations, and they showed their flash against Toronto on Saturday. Taillon was lights out once again, putting together a resurgent season with a 2.70 ERA. Over his last three games, Taillon has given up eight earned runs in 17 innings of action. It was nice to see him blank Toronto after a few tumultuous starts, but the Yankees’ run production has been so lethal that even a spotty pitching performance is easily supplemented. In Jameson’s last two starts, the Yankees have combined for 28 total runs (prior to today’s game).
Offensively on Saturday, the Bombers recorded eight hits and three walks, striking out six times. Aaron Judge has been quiet over the past few games in the home run category. He has hit just one homer in his last six contests, which is unusual for the league’s leader in the category. However, he’s still contributing nicely, earning two hits and a walk in the Yankees 12–3 went on Friday night.
It was great to see the Yankees take advantage of one of the best pitchers in Major League Baseball currently, Alek Manoah. Manoah featured a 1.67 ERA heading into the game, but the Bombers posted four runs on him. He had been dominant against the Yanks previously but lost control of his fastball after the 3rd inning.
The Yankees’ hottest player at the moment is first baseman Anthony Rizzo, who picked up a hit and run in the win. In the month of June, Rizzo is hitting .271 with a 34.8% on base rate and a .576 slugging percentage. He’s posted 16 hits and six homers with just 12 strikeouts over 59 at-bats. There’s an argument to be made that Rizzo has been one of the team’s more underrated players, but he’s finally getting the attention he deserves after a grand slam on Friday and inspiring speech after sweeping the Tampa Bay Rays this past week.
The Yankees will look ahead to Sunday afternoon with Gerrit Cole on the mound. Toronto will feature Yusei Kikuchi, who hosts a 4.80 ERA this season with just 56 strikeouts and 32 walks allowed over 50.2 innings. This is a favorable matchup for the Bombers, providing an opportunity to sweep both AL East opponents. The Yanks currently have a nice 11-game cushion over Toronto.