The New York Yankees are playing again tonight at Sahlen Field in Buffalo, against the Toronto Blue Jays. This after losing 14 of their last 19 games. The Yankees lost to the Jays last night in a disturbing 12-7 loss. The Yankees are coming off of three straight losses to the Baltimore Orioles and last night’s loss to the Jays when the bullpen failed to hold a Yankee lead in the game.
Tonight at Sahlen Stadium, in Buffalo it should be a nice night for baseball. The game-time temperature will be in the upper ’60s, and the game will be played under partly cloudy skies with only a slight chance of a shower. The game will be televised on the YES Network and on SNET in Canada.
In the first inning, the Yankees will face Taijuan Walker, the same Walker that the Yankees were interested in before the trade deadline. Instead, Walker went with the Blue Jays. The Seattle Mariners and the Blue Jays have won every one of Walker’s seven starts this season, including his last start for the Blue Jays in a 6-2 win against the Red Sox.
The 6′ 4″ righty Walker is 3-2 with an ERA of 3.26 of the season. Walker has several pitches, but he used his cutter 25 times in his 6 scoreless innings, in his last game against the Red Sox. Walker had this to say:
“I feel like I was mostly just fastball and changeup,†he said while being introduced as a Blue Jay on Friday. “Now, this year, with all of the new pitching technology that’s out there, I was able to turn my cutter into more of a true slider. I really worked hard with that. My curveball, too, just having more confidence in it. I’m able to throw it for strikes in any counts.â€
The Yankees will send out J.A. Happ to hopefully turn things around for the beleaguered Yankees team. With Happ, you never know for sure what you are going to get, as he has been quite inconsistent this season. He has pitched several poor games for the Yankees, and at the same time, he has pitched one of the best starts for any Yankee pitcher this season. On August 29th he pitched 7.1 scoreless innings for the Yankees, allowing only three hits while striking out 5 New York Mets in the Yankee win.
The lefty Happ is 1-1 with an ERA of 4.68 in his five starts for the Yankees. If Happ gets on a tear, he can be a shut out pitcher, when acquired by the Yankees from the Blue Jays in 2018, he went 7-0. What Happ shows up on the mound today, will tell whether the Yankees improved offense last night can be built upon, for the Yankees first win in their last four games.
When the Yankees take to the field tonight, they will do so against a team that has taken their second-place standing in the East away from them. The Yankees are now 6.5 games behind the East-leading Tampa Bay Rays. The New York Yankees need this win tonight to prevent falling further away from a postseason spot. Right now they are holding that 8 positions, but the Tigers and Orioles are right at their heals. The Yankees have got to start winning games.
After tonight’s game, the Yankees will face the Blue Jays once more tomorrow night before returning to Yankee Stadium for a four-game set with the Baltimore Orioles. Then at the Stadium, they meet up with the Blue Jays again. Nine of the Yankees 19 games remaining games are against the Blue Jays.