Yankees get best of Jays
TORONTO — Last night’s game between the Blue Jays and Yankees was a parade. A hit parade for New York and a parade from the bullpen to the mound for Toronto.
And it all started with Jays starter Nick Tepesch.
Tepesch, an emergency starter with Aaron Sanchez still out and Joe Biagini being stretched out at Triple-A Buffalo, pitched as well as could be expected but gave up three solo home runs to the Yankees early as New York downed the Jays 11-5.
Gary Sanchez, Didi Gregorious and Todd Frazier all went yard for the Yankees, Frazier also hit a double, a single and was hit by a pitch. Jose Bautista hit a homer for Toronto. The Yanks out-hit the Jays, 17-6. The Jays burned through six relief pitchers and the Yankees five.
The Yankees jumped on Tepesch in the second inning when Sanchez and Frazier hit back-to-back solo shots to put New York ahead 2-0 — the seventh time this season the Jays allowed back-to-back home runs, the last time July 31 in Chicago. The Jays jumped on the board in second when Nori Aoki hit a grounder to second to score Steve Pearce.
Gregorius hit New York’s third homer of the night in the third, a line drive that made it into the stands in right-centre. Gregorius had three hits.
Down 3-1, the Jays continued to scratch and claw back into the game. With the bases loaded and one out in the third, Pearce his a fly ball to right to score Raffy Lopez from third. Lopez caught in place of Russ Martin, who was given the night off.
Jays shortstop Ryan Goins made an outstanding defensive play in the fourth when he ranged to his right on a hot Jacoby Ellsbury grounder, made a backhanded snag on a high hopper and then gunned Ellsbury out at first.
The Yanks chased Tepesch out of the game with one out in the fifth after Aaron Judge walked — his 82nd of the season, the most every by a Yankees’ rookie — and Gregorius hit a double to left centre. Tepesch was replaced by Leonel Campos, who after striking out Sanchez, gave up a double to Frazier to score both runs and put the Yankees ahead 5-2. Ellsbury then hit a double to the same spot, scoring Frazier.
Bautista’s homer to lead off the fifth, a line drive over the wall in left, was his 18th of the season on a 1-1 pitch from Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka.
Goins smacked a double into the gap in left centre off reliever Chad Green to score Darwin Barney in the sixth. Green was pulled for Tommy Kahnle who walked Lopez. Two batters later, Josh Donaldson smacked a single to right to score Goins, pulling the Jays to within one run. With runners on first and third and two out, Tommy Kahnle struck out Smoak to end the inning. Donaldson singled and walked three times.
Right-hander Taylor Cole made his Major League debut for the Jays in the eighth with the Jays down one run. He gave up four runs on six hits in one inning of work. The Yanks added three more in the ninth, all of the unfortunate Cole.