Pitching has not been the problem for the Yankees early in this season. Hitting and scoring has been. Nestor Cortes started the 2nd game of the 4-game home series against the Toronto Blue Jays. He's been a decent pitcher since the Yankees got him, and while I wasn't expecting him to make the best start of the young season, I thought he might have a good start in him. And all I could think was, "Get this man some runs."
Aaron Boone (or Brian Cashman) wouldn't let him finish the 5th inning, in which he got himself into a little bit of trouble, denying him the chance to be the winning pitcher. But he allowed no runs on 3 hits, and struck out 5. The rest of the way, the bullpen of Clay Holmes, Miguel Castro, Jonathan Loáisiga and Aroldis Chapman pitched 4 and 2/3rds innings, allowing no runs on 2 hits. Between them, the 5 Yankee pitchers allowed no walks. I love it.
But you gotta score runs. And, this time, the Yankees got the runs they needed. Aaron Hicks hit a 2-run home run in the 2nd inning. There could have been a Hollywood-style headline: "HIX STIX SLAYZ JAYZ."
A Jays throwing error gave the Yankees another run in the 4th. Another error led to an RBI sacrifice fly by Giancarlo Stanton in the 8th. Boone/Cashman allowed Chapman to pitch the 9th, even though it wasn't a save situation, because he needed the work. He got 2 strikeouts, then DJ LeMahieu made a great unassisted play at 1st base to end it.
Yankees 4, Blue Jays 0. WP: Holmes (1-0). No save. LP: Yusei Kikuchi (0-1). Nice bounce-back win for the Pinstripes.
The series continues tomorrow night. Gerrit Cole pitches against Jose Berrios.
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