Spring thunderstorms caused the postponement of the New York Yankees Toronto Blue Jays game two on Wednesday, causing a day-night doubleheader yesterday. The Yankees lost the first game on Tuesday and split the doubleheader yesterday. The Yankees hoped to take both games and maintain their consecutive series winning streak, but it was not to be had.
Doubleheader pitching not so good
The New York Yankee pitching in both games yesterday was adequate but not as good as it should have been. In game one, Domingo German took the loss in a game that he could have won if he had some run support. Minus two pitches, he actually had a good outing. But two back-to-back bad location pitches resulted in two back-to-back home runs. He went into the sixth inning, only giving up three hits in his game.
Alek Manoah’s joy in winning his major league debut was a bit of an embarrassment for the Yankees. The Yankees lineup could only muster up two hits against the 23-year old that had only pitched 35 innings in his professional career. After his six innings, Jordan Romano came in the close it out for the Blue Jays, leaving the Yankees scoreless in the game.
Game two was much of the same but went in favor of the Yankees. Jordan Montgomery pitched okay but not as he did in his previous start. He went 4.2 innings giving up three earned runs; the only runs the Jays would get in the game. He was only able to strike out one Jays batter. Jonathan Loaisiga, Wandy Peralta, and Chad Green combined for a scoreless 2.1 innings. Unlike the first game, the Yankee hitting allowed the New York Yankees to salvage one game of the three-game set.
New York Yankee hitting remains pitiful
The Yankees’ lack of hitting remains a big problem for the team. Over the three Blue Jays games, they were only able to get 14 hits and 7 runs, that just over two runs a game. The only reason the Yankees are not at the bottom of the American League is the pitching has saved them as they continue to not get sufficient runs to win games consistently. In the last series sweep of the White Sox, the Yankees showed life and scored just over 4 runs per game, but in this series, they went back to their old ways of not hitting and broke their series winning streak.
Last night Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez came to the rescue, both with home runs and driving in four of the five runs. A timely hit by Gio Urshela drove in the other run. Judge’s home run was his team-leading 13th.
Injuries call for reinforcements
Yesterday, Aaron Boone made it public that centerfielder Aaron Hicks would most likely miss the rest of this season after his wrist surgery. At the same time, they called up Estevan Florial from Scranton, where he had played in only two triple-A games. With Mike Tauchman traded away and Hicks likely gone for the season, fill-in Brett Gardner couldn’t be expected to man centerfield every day. Florial may not be the answer either, leading general manager Cashman to forge a trade to get a permanent centerfielder.
With the news that Corey Kluber and Luke Voit being out for some time, the Yankees are getting deeper into injury troubles. Yesterday Lucas Luetge and Chad Green had to close games for the Yankees because Aroldis Chapman was unavailable due to a non-Covid bug. The only good news on the injury front is that Giancarlo Stanton is expected to be back with the team tonight in Detroit, and reliever Zack Britton is getting closer to returning. According to Aaron Boone, Chapman may also be available if needed.