The New York Yankees will host the Toronto Blue Jays tonight at 7:05 pm, in a rematch of the Buffalo series last week, but this time at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees are coming off a four-game sweep of the Baltimore Orioles in the Bronx. In the previous week, the Yankees starting pitching has vastly improved, and the hitting has come alive. In the last five games, the Yankees have scored 28 runs while holding opponents to just 5 runs.
In the previous five games, the Yankees lost all of them, scoring only 13 runs over the five games. During the lousy stretch from August 18, the Yankees won only 5 games out of 20 played. During such a short season of only 60 games, that stretch was devasting to the Yankees, falling from first in the East to third place, behind both the Tampa Bay Rays and the Toronto Blue Jays. With the last game win over the Jays and the sweep of the Orioles, the Yankees are now 26-21, just one-half game behind the Blue Jays.
If the New York Yankees can sweep this three-game series with the Jays, they could move up the ladder and be just a game and a half behind the division-leading Rays. If the Rays lose their series with the Washington Nationals, the Yankee could retake the lead in the East.
The game tonight, at Yankee Stadium will be played under sunny and clear skies. If fans were allowed in the stands that would notice an autumn chill in the air as the game-time temperature will be in the mid-’60s. The game will be televised on the YES Network and in Canada on SNET1.
Tonight at the Stadium, pitching sensation Deivi Garcia will take the mound for the Yankees. He is coming off a win against these same Blue Jays last week. In that game, he went seven strong innings, allowing just five hits, allowing two runs, with no walks, while striking out six Jays. Although Garcia pitched well in his previous two games, this last outing was his first major league win. Garcia uses all of his pitches and adjusts to the situation on the fly, with the confidence of a veteran, far beyond his years.
The New York Yankees will face Taijuan Walker, who they looked at just before the trade deadline last month. Walker is 3-2 with an ERA of 2.95. Walker has 36 strikeouts across his eight starts this season. Walker, in his previous outing, won his game but wiggled out of 5 walks in the game against the Yankees. The dead bats of the Yankees scored only one run off of him. The Yankees hope tonight will be different, now that the team is hitting better. The Yankees will hope for Garcia to continue to dominate and win this one at the Stadium.
The remaining two games of the Jays series will be on Wednesday and Thursday, pitching will be Gerrit Cole, and Masahiro Tanaka, who are both coming off wins in their last outings. After the Yankees finish this series, they will face the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park in Boston, then back with the Jays in Buffalo, ending their season at Yankee Stadium with Derek Jeter’s Miami Marlins.