Donaldson’s HRs brings win over Yanks
Osuna comes back with save to reward Happ’s strong start
If there were any questions about whether or not Josh Donaldson was, in fact, heating up, the Blue Jays’ third baseman quashed them in Tuesday’s 4-2 win over the New York Yankees. Donaldson — who had homered in three of the six games heading into the series against Toronto’s American League East rivals — struck a pair of two-run homers in the victory, his 14th and 15th long balls of the season good for a 12th career multihomer game.
“He’s one guy, when he steps in the box, you feel like something could happen,” Gibbons said.
Roberto Osuna adding to that joy in the end. After blowing four saves since the all-star break, the young closer bounced back for his 29th save of the year.
“No doubt Osuna’s been in a little bit of a rut, so that was a big one for him,” Gibbons said. “He’s feeling good, we’re feeling good. We played a good ballgame.”
Donaldson brought the early joy, with Roberto Osuna adding to it in the end. After blowing four saves since the all-star break, including one in his most recent outing against the Houston Astros, the young closer bounced back for his 29th save of the year.
It was a stylish way to take the series lead — giving Toronto a 6-5 record against the pinstripes this year — and Donaldson homers didn’t disappoint, either. His first one, which scored Jose Bautista in the first frame, went opposite field. His third and fourth RBIs, cashing in Russell Martin in the third, came after a 111.4 mph laser to left field, Donaldson’s hardest hit homer since last April, according to Major League Baseball’s Statcast.
The pair of home runs proved nails in the coffin for Yankees’ lefty CC Sabathia, who was pulled by the fourth frame. The starter has managed four or fewer innings in three quarters of his outings against Toronto this year.
The lefty he faced, J.A. Happ, faired considerably better. The veteran al- lowed just four hits and a lone run through 5 2/3 innings, a particularly impressive feat when facing the A.L.’s home run pacesetter, Aaron Judge.
The Yankees’ rookie right fielder — hitting .182 between last month’s All-Star break and Tuesday’s first pitch, with five homers and 12 RBIs — was New York’s first player to reach base on Tuesday, his two-out walk in the first inning proving useless when catcher Gary Sanchez grounded out to end the frame. Judge finished the night 0-for-2 with a pair of walks.
Quicker off the mark was Donaldson, his first homer of the night giving Toronto a 2-0 bump after Bautista led off the first frame with a double, moving to third on a sacrifice bunt by Martin. It’s not the first time the third baseman has been particularly hot in that frame. Half of Donaldson’s dingers this year have come in the first inning.
Adding on to that tally was within reach for Toronto after a walk from Justin Smoak and a double by Steve Pearce bookended a Kendrys Morales strikeout, but Sabathia got Kevin Pillar to strand both runners and hold Toronto’s lead at 2-0.
It was cut in half soon after. Happ managed to get himself out of an early jam in the top of the second, with Yankees’ Todd Frazier grounding into a double play after back-toback singles to right field by Chase Headley and Didi Gregorius. But a third bloop to Bautista’s area of the field — this time by Garrett Cooper — scored Headley, slicing into the home team’s lead.
The bottom of the Jays order couldn’t produce an immediate answer, but Donaldson’s second homer came not long after, following a single to left-centre field by Martin to start the bottom of the third.
It proved one of the Blue Jays’ final hits of the night. Bryan Mitchell, Sabathia’s replacement, allowed three hits and a walk over four innings.
Things got nervy for Ryan Tepera in the eighth, when he hit both Sanchez and Headley with pitches before allowing a one-out walk to Frazier to load the bases. Cooper scored the Yankees’ catcher with a sacrifice fly, but Tepera got Ronald Torreyes to protect the win.
Osuna came in to face the top of the Yankees’ order, going 1-2-3 against centre fielder Brett Gardner, pinch hitter Jacoby Ellsbury and Judge himself to guarantee the win.