Jays seeking answers for Yanks lineup
TORONTO — When J.A. Happ was named the Blue Jays’ Opening Day starter, he also earned the right to be the first pitcher to face the revamped Yankees lineup and the 2-3-4 combination of Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Gary Sanchez.
And it was up to ex-Yankee Russell Martin to help Happ navigate the territory in a 6-1 Yankees win in the season opener at Rogers Centre.
Afterward, following Stanton’s two-homer-and-a-double performance, as well as doubles by Sanchez and Judge and a homer by Brett Gardner, Martin admitted how difficult it was.
“I wish I had the answer,” Martin said of how to get through the heart of the order. “They’re gonna be tough and they’re gonna hit their share of home runs. You’ve just got to hope there’s nobody on base when they do. But my belief is when you’re facing the best hitters, you have to stay aggressive. You can’t let fear change your attitude toward how you approach the game. You have to attack them. You have to be tough.”
Perhaps not surprisingly, Happ failed to make it out of the fifth inning for the first time since July 9 and the Yankees also scored off John Axford, Danny Barnes and Tyler Clippard.
“They already had a good lineup,” Martin said. “You add Stanton to that, it’s gonna be an even better lineup. But I feel like we have the pitching to battle that.”
Happ was forced to throw 96 pitches in just 4 2/3 innings in his shortest outing since going four innings July 9 against Houston, but he wasn’t altogether discouraged.
“I feel good about it,” Happ said about his performance. “I just have to be a little more sharp and get ahead a little bit more.”
Asked repeatedly about what it was like to battle the Yankees’ sluggers back-to-back-to-back, Happ relented.
“I see the narrative you guys are trying to have here, and I understand it,” Happ said. “It’s a tough lineup. I don’t know what else I can say other than that.”
The lone pitch Happ regretted was the two-seamer he left over the plate to Stanton in the top of the first that Stanton hit out to right-center field.
“There’s no break in that lineup,” Martin said. “It makes you have to pitch to them and they all can hit. You have to make pitches to get them out, and sometimes you do make a pitch and they can still hit it.”
But Martin hasn’t abandoned all hope.
“The key is to stay aggressive and try to outthink them,” Martin said. “But it looks like they’re seeing the ball well right now. I’m not gonna get carried away. It’s one game. … We’ve got a few tricks up our sleeve.”