Yankees Ride Six-Run Seventh to Win 11th Straight
Judge drives in three, Stanton homers to hand Jays first series loss of the year
The New York Yankees will not lose. They beat the Toronto Blue Jays 9–1 to extend their win streak to 11 games.
It’s the first time Toronto has lost back-to-back games and the first time they lost a series this season.
New York extends its AL East lead to 3.5 games over the Blue Jays.
This was a 1–1 ballgame heading into the seventh inning, until the Yankees’ offense exploded, while the Blue Jays' defense imploded.
Game Summary
It was a pitcher's duel in the first half of the game. Both Jameson Taillon (2–1) and Alek Manoah were electric.
Manoah retired 15 consecutive hitters at one point, and Taillon had a low pitch count all night (71 pitches through six innings).
The Blue Jays got some baserunners, but their aggressive approach led to quick outs and got the Yankees out of a couple of innings.
Toronto broke through in the fifth inning after Bo Bichette ripped an RBI single to left field.
The Yankees didn’t wait long to respond, as Aaron Judge launched his MLB-tying ninth home run of the year off Manoah to tie the game at one.
The floodgates opened for New York in the seventh, but not without some controversy.
Giancarlo Stanton reached on an error to begin the inning when Vladimir Guerrero Jr lost touch of first base on a Bichette throw.
The Blue Jays would challenge the call, their second of the game after winning the first one. They lost this one meaning they cannot challenge the rest of the game.
Josh Donaldson laced a double to center to score Stanton from first and break the tie.
Marwin Gonzalez ripped an RBI double in the center field gap to make it 3–1.
Gonzalez advanced to third on an Isiah Kiner-Falefa single, bringing up Jose Trevino.
Trevino hit a ground ball to Guerrero Jr who threw home and caught Gonzalez in a rundown.
After multiple throws between third base and home, Gonzalez avoided the tag by Guerrero Jr to score the Yankees' fourth run.
Guerrero was not happy with the call because he believed he tagged Gonzalez.
It appeared Guerrero did make the tag on the replay, but because the Blue Jays lost their challenge earlier in the inning, they could not challenge the call, meaning Gonzalez is safe.
Aaron Hicks came through with his second hit of the game, an RBI single to score Kiner-Falefa.
Judge continued to drive in runs after his two-run RBI double made it 7–1.
Taillon was done after six strong innings. He allowed one run on five hits while striking out four. He picked up his second win of the year.
Wandy Peralta relieved Taillon and threw a scoreless inning, picking off Alejandro Kirk at first base.
In the ninth inning, Stanton joined the party with a two-run shot to make it 9–1.
Miguel Castro and Lucas Luetge also threw scoreless innings to end the ballgame.
Offensive Notes
Manoah has been a problem for the Yankees since he debuted at Yankee Stadium last May.
Not only has he been a problem for the Yankees, but he’s also been a problem for the rest of the league. Toronto was 20–4 entering today in games that Manoah has started.
Make it 20–5 now, as Manoah was chased after six innings of one-run ball.
That one run was crucial, however. Judge’s home run came in a 3–2 count, which started as an 0–2 count.
Judge was a little late on the fastballs early in the count, watched three sliders for balls, then caught up to the fastball and hit it 427 feet away.
That home run tied him with teammate Anthony Rizzo for the major league lead with nine home runs.
The explosion in the seventh inning was the cherry on top. It’s the most runs (six) New York has scored in an inning this year and took the life right out of Rogers Centre.
While Judge did drive in three, he struck out three times. It’s a little bit concerning, but he is on such a tear that I’m not too worried about it.
Manoah is also one of baseball’s best pitchers. Judge went from striking out against Manoah in his first two at-bats to a home run in his third at-bat.
I can confidently say that the Yankee slump to begin the season is now over.
Pitching Notes
Taillon went toe-to-toe with Manoah. I was quite frustrated when Boone took him out after six innings when he only had 71 pitches and was getting ready to face the bottom of the order.
But after the long seventh inning where Toronto sent three pitchers to the mound (two pitching changes), Aaron Boone decided to go to the bullpen.
Once again it paid off, as the bullpen pitched three innings of scoreless baseball.
Right now, the Yankees' pitching is the best in baseball. The starting rotation is keeping the game close every game, and the bullpen isn’t allowing any runs night in and night out.
It’s a joy to watch especially since it was the biggest question mark heading into the season.
Streak(s) Within the Streak
Both home runs by Judge and Stanton extended their hitting streaks to eight games.
The two power guys are the two hottest guys in the lineup.
I know Boone likes to give players rest (DJ LeMahieu tonight) to keep them fresh and injury-free, but taking at-bats away from these two can take away all their momentum.
We’ll see what Boone does with the lineup tomorrow.
Four Straight Sweeps?
The Yankees will eye another sweep and their 12th win in a row in the series finale tomorrow.
Nestor Cortes Jr (1–0) will face Yusei Kikuchi (0–1) with first pitch scheduled for 7:07 p.m. EST.
The series may have been won, but a sweep sounds much better than two-out-of-three.
