The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Smoak’s go-ahead slam sinks Yanks
TORONTO — After fouling off a pair of curveballs, Justin Smoak figured he’d get a fastball from David Robertson. Smoak was right.
The switch-hitter smacked a two-run homer in the seventh inning and a go-ahead grand slam in the eighth to rally the Toronto Blue Jays past the New York Yankees 7-4 on Sunday.
Smoak connected against reliever Tommy Kahnle in the seventh, then brought the crowd of 29,091 to its feet with his second career slam, a drive off Robertson (0-1).
“He’s one of the best in the game so you know it’s going to be a tough at-bat,” Smoak said of his ninepitch encounter with Robertson. “I just tried to battle and battle and battle.”
Smoak went 3 for 4 with a walk and six RBIs in his seventh career multihomer game as Toronto gained a series split, winning the final two games.
“You can’t do any better than he did today,” manager John Gibbons said.
Robertson was left frustrated at his failure to finish off Smoak.
“I threw everything I had at him,” Robertson said. “He just won today.”
Toronto has hit at least one home run in each of its first four games. It’s the first time the Blue Jays have done that since 2011, when they homered in five straight to begin the season.
With Toronto trailing 4-3, Russell Martin hit a
leadoff single against Robertson and went to third on a one-out double by Aledmys Diaz.
One out later, New York chose to intentionally walk Josh Donaldson to load the bases for Smoak, who worked the count full before his shot to center field.
“I’m glad I was thinking the way I was thinking,” Smoak said of his decision to look for the fastball.
Smoak’s other slam also came against the Yankees. In 2015, he went deep off Ivan Nova to become the first Blue Jays player to hit a grand slam in the Bronx — Toronto joined the majors in 1977.
Tyler Clippard (1-0) pitched a scoreless inning and Seung Hwan Oh finished for his first save.
Toronto’s comeback denied New York its first series victory north of the border since August 2015.
The Yankees have lost six of their past eight series in Toronto, splitting the other two.
Brandon Drury hit a two-run homer for the Yankees, and Giancarlo Stanton walked three times in his first career start in left field.
Drury connected off right-hander Marcus Stroman, who allowed four runs and three hits in five innings. Stroman, limited to two starts in spring training because of a sore shoulder, walked three and struck out eight.
Yankees slugger Aaron Judge threw out Martin at home plate in the second as he tried to score from second base on Gift Ngoepe’s ground single to right field.
“You’ve got to do something when you’re not hitting,” joked Judge, who went 1 for 3 with two walks, raising his batting average to .200.
Devon Travis followed with an RBI single as the Blue Jays opened the scoring for the second straight game.
New York answered with four two-out runs in the third.
Stanton walked and scored on Didi Gregorius’ double.
Neil Walker had an RBI single and Drury followed with a drive to left, his first.
“Really good at-bats in that inning,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “They held us down after that.”