Yanks Slug Past Jays, 11-6

Headline News, MLB, NEWS August 19, 2018 David Mendelsohn

The New York Yankees took the second game of a three-game set with the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday, clinching at least a series win with a final score of 11-6.

Luis Severino was on the hill for the Bombers, looking to retake ace-shape after a seven start skid. He did just that in the first, striking out two batters in the first inning.

The offense rewarded Sevy for his efforts in the bottom of the first. Brett Gardner worked a leadoff walk and then Didi Gregorius hit this 2-run blast to jump out to an early 2-0 lead.

Sevy did more of the same in the second, surrendering a meaningless double in the process.

The Yanks added another run in the bottom of the second with a sac fly off of the bat of Austin Romine, extending the lead to 3-0.

They kept going in the third: adding two on a Miguel Andujar double and another on an RBI groundout by Greg Bird.

Giancarlo Stanton homered in the fourth to extend the lead to 7-0.

That was Giancarlo’s 32nd home run of the season. He has 7 of those and 12 RBIs over his last 12 games, according to Katie Sharp.

Miguel Andujar added a homer of his own in the bottom of the fifth that made it 8-0.

It got hairy soon thereafter for a while. Severino had coasted pretty well through his first five innings. His pitch count got up there at about 95 pitches, but he had thrown five shutout innings, allowing four hits and two walks, but striking out eight in the process. He should have been done after that, especially with how much it seems like manager Aaron Boone likes to have guys end on high notes and have relievers come into as clean an inning as possible. Up 8-0, though, he elected to let Sevy try to stretch it through the sixth. He gave up a double and a single and then was taken out for Tommy Kahnle. He technically had two earned runs, but I will choose to ignore that sixth inning because I didn’t like it from the start.

That’s big for the Yankees. Severino finally gave the “A” stuff again. Next time out, he just needs to do that and give a little more length and then I’ll declare him all the way back to normal.

Kahnle really labored. He only got two outs, giving up three hits and a walk, before Boone had to get him out of there. I’m happy he was used there, and now Yankee fans can see a little better why he’s been in triple-A most of the season, since he’s looked good all the times we’ve seen him in the big leagues recently until now. I think if he comes in at the beginning of the inning it is much less ugly.

Jonathan Holder came in and got an out to end the inning, but it was suddenly 8-5!

The teams exchange zeroes for a bit. Zach Britton pitched a rather uneventful seventh inning (good!) and Dellin Betances spun a clean eighth, despite a leadoff walk.

The Yankees let everyone take a deep breath in the ninth, though, starting with Bird’s leadoff home run that felt like the official game clincher.

Hopefully that breaks him out of the slump.

The Yankees added two more in the inning on a bases-loaded walk to Aaron Hicks. Didi Gregorius added the second on the league-leading 46th sacrifice fly of the season for the Yankees.

AJ Cole came in to pitch the bottom of the ninth with a healthy lead again. He gave up a run on several hits, because he isn’t good anymore, I guess, but eventually was able to close it out.

The Yankees will go for the series sweep with former Blue Jay JA Happ on the bump Sunday.

 

Featured Image via Flickr/Arturo Pardavila III

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I am a direct product of the 1996 World Series Championship. I love talking about the Yankees, Knicks, Giants, or just about anything else! Feel free to follow me on Twitter (@BigBabyDavid_) and Instagram (@bigbabydavid)

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