Bronx Bombers rough up starter Estrada
Toronto comes up short in bid to reach .500
When Marco Estrada’s changeup is doing its thing, he can bring some of baseball’s most seasoned hitters to their knees.
When it’s not, well, on Thursday night the New York Yankees offered a rather potent example of what can go wrong.
Estrada, who played a big role in the Jays’ May turnaround, was rocked early on Thursday night at the Rogers Centre as the Bronx Bombers belted out four runs in the first on the way to a message-delivering 12-2 blowout win.
In fact, the Yankees were up 4- 0 before the dome roof was completely closed, allowing some of the air of anticipation for the opener of the four-game series to escape with it.
After fighting their way to within a game of .500 following the 2-9 start to the season, the Jays hoped to hit that mark and pull within 4 1/2 games of the division leaders. The Yankees had other ideas, of course, belting out a total of 15 hits to all corners of the dome.
The young Yankees jumped on Estrada’s signature pitch, particularly second- year catcher Gary Sanchez who had loud home runs in each of his first two at bats.
Estrada’s night was done much earlier than anticipated as manager John Gibbons brought out the hook before the fourth inning was done, an atypical effort from the veteran Jays starter.
And then there was Yankees outfielder Aaron Hicks who wasn’t selective about what Jays pitcher he abused, driving in a career- high six runs including three on a bases-clearing double in the first inning.
By t hen, Estrada had thrown 89 pitches and been knocked around for nine hits and seven runs. Estrada, who entered the game with 78 strikeouts, third most in the AL, added four more.
Overall, it was an outing where next to nothing went right for Estrada, arguably the early- season ace of the Jays staff. It was the first time as a Jay Estrada had allowed that many runs in a game.
JUDGE-MENT TIME
The Rogers Centre crowd got its first look at a larger than l i fe Yankees rookie Aaron Judge, the 6-foot-7, 282 pounder who has taken the baseball world by storm this season.
Judge had a single and a walk in his first two at- bats but was overshadowed by another young gun who is expected to be a force of the Yankees offence for years to come. It had been a slow start for catcher Sanchez, who last year had 20 homers in his first 53 games. Entering Thursday’s contest, he had just four this season, but that changed in a hurry.
Both of his homers on Thursday came off of Estrada changeups and both were measured at 430-feet plus.
Safe to say that the Jays and the rest of the AL East are well aware of the Yankees power.
FEEBLE FIRSTS
Estrada has been a huge part of the Jays success this season, despite the occasional wobble in the first inning.
On Thursday it was more of a stumble as he never found his rhythm and command was also an issue.
The big damage in that opening inning came on a bases loaded ( and bases clearing) double from Hicks to boost the Yanks lead to 4-0.
Prior to Thursday’s start, Estrada had 2.36 ERA in all innings other than the first. But the four he allowed on Thursday jumped his first inning total to 10 runs allowed in 12 outings.
It was clear by the end of the second that Estrada didn’t have it after he had allowed five hits and five runs on 51 pitches.
FAMILIAR SHOWDOWN
The Yankees first visit to town was the fourth of 19 meetings between the AL East rivals this season and the Yankees improved to 3-1.
Yhe Jays divisional record might have some significance and there’s still time to salvage this four- game set. But Jays manager John Gibbons acknowledged there was added excitement and incentive.
“It’s early in the season, but any time you play the frontrunners, you’ve got to make up ground,” Gibbons said. “Not as much as you feel later in the year when things are really tight and it’s getting down to the wire. “It’s always important to play well against guys you’re chasing, especially with the hole we dug early.”