OPENING D’OH!
YANKS LOSE IN EXTRA INNINGS; METS ON HOLD AS COVID HITS NATS
Coming into this season, nothing was assured for Gary Sanchez. The Yankees catcher knew the team was giving him another chance, but he would be a short leash. After the worst season of his career, Sanchez played winter ball, got in better shape, committed to learning how to better block pitches and reworked his swing.
He was one of the biggest question marks in a lineup that was expected to rake.
Thursday, however, Sanchez was the only one who had any answers. The Blue Jays held off the Yankees sluggers besides Sanchez and rallied for a run in the top of the 10th to beat the Bombers 3-2 on Opening Day at the Stadium.
The Yankees opened the season with actual fans in seats for the first time since Game 5 of the 2019 American League Championship Series on October 18. They had 10,850 in the house Thursday, the 20% capacity maximum allowed under New York State’s coronavirus pandemic rules.
Gerrit Cole and the bullpen were solid. Cole allowed two runs, working around three straight singles in the second to limit the damage to a run. He also gave up a game-tying home run to Teoscar Hernandez.
“I just want that slider back,” said Cole, who struck out eight and walked two. The bullpen allowed one run over 4.2 innings. Nick Nelson gave up a double to Randal Grichuk, that went over the head of Aaron Judge in the top of the 10th, which started with a runner placed on second, per MLB rules.
Sanchez went 2-for-3 with a two-run home run, a legged-out, infield single and he drew a walk to lead off the bottom of the ninth. Behind the plate, working with Gerrit Cole, Sanchez made several nice blocks in the dirt and threw out a runner trying to steal on him.
“It was great. And, you know, it was good to see him come out and I thought he did a really good job behind the plate,” Aaron Boone said. “He blocked a few balls in the dirt. I thought he worked well with Gerrit. Obviously, had a big caught stealing there.”
Last season, Sanchez got demoted from
catching Cole. The Yankees’ ace went 5-1 with a 1.79 ERA and a .165 batting average against in seven starts with Higashioka behind the plate. In his first eight starts of 2020, with Sanchez behind the plate, Cole went 4-2 with a 3.91 ERA and a .224 opponents batting average.
Thursday, Cole said he thought that he worked with Sanchez fine. The only issues were the lack of execution on a few pitches.
But the best sign for the Yankees was Sanchez’s bat. Last year, Sanchez was brutal at the plate. He slashed .147/.253/.365 with 64 strikeouts in 156 atbats. He has since shortened his swing and has worked on his timing.
“And then at the plate. I thought he was excellent. He was on time. Recognizing the pitch,” Boone continued. “I really felt like yesterday, he had a good day’s work and a really good batting practice. He kind of carried that into today where really all of his at bats, he was on time, and obviously dangerous.”
The rest of the Yankees lineup? It wasn’t so dangerous.
Clint Frazier had two singles to lead the rest of the Yankees lineup, which went 4-for-32 with 13 strikeouts. That included two from slugger Aaron Judge, who struck out swinging with the winning run on second in the bottom of the ninth. It also included three strikeouts from Giancarlo Stanton, who struck out with Judge placed on second base in the bottom of the 10th. The Yankees went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position on Thursday and stranded 10 runners.
“In the seventh having the bases loaded one out, I was just trying to get the ball in the air, give us the lead. Then I end up grounding out into double play ending the inning,” Judge said. “Then there in the ninth too, same thing. Guys in scoring position, just, hit something the other way, get it in the gap and watch the guys run. I wasn’t able to come through. Let the team down twice there.
“Even the ball over my head. That’s another opportunity we could have at least held them or at least caught that or cut the guy off from scoring and didn’t do it,” Judge continued. “So, you know, a lot of missed opportunities on my part.”