New York Yankees lose a tight one to Blue Jays, drop second game of series

New York Yankees, Miguel Andujar
Aug 5, 2020; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; New York Yankees third baseman Miguel Andujar (41) throws out Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Rhys Hoskins (17) (not pictured) during the first inning at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

The New York Yankees have now fallen to .500 after losing the second game of a three-game series to the Toronto Blue Jays. Despite having a great outing by J.A. Happ, the Yankees offense was flat all game. The Yanks have now lost five games in a row, losing 12 out of their last 17 games.

There wasn’t much scoring done tonight on either side. The Blue Jays scored their only two runs with a home run from Jonathan Davis which Statcast estimated it was 411 feet.

The Yankees scored their lone run on a Mike Tauchman sacrifice fly to left field which knocked in Luke Voit.

J.A. Happ had a great outing tonight, going the distance pitching 6.1 innings with ten strikeouts, only allowing the two runs on the Davis home run. Besides the one mistake to Davis, he had his stuff all night and was getting a ton of swing-and-misses. It’s unfortunate that Happ picked up the loss tonight especially with how powerful the Yankee lineup should be.

Right-hander Taijuan Walker started the game for the Blue Jays where he went four complete innings pitched, only allowing two hits while striking out three. The Jays relied mostly on their bullpen this game using four guys to finish off the remaining five innings.

Yankees’ manager Aaron Boone talked about the team being .500, “I know we are better than that, but we have not played to our capabilities. Obviously the last couple weeks have been a rough stretch to get us to that point. So, we still have time here to turn this thing around and I’m confident we will.”

The New York Yankees’ record drops to 21-21 after starting the season 16-6. They are sitting in third place for the AL East, three games behind the Blue Jays, and only one game up on the Baltimore Orioles. The Blue Jays advance to a 24-18 record on the season.