As with getting the last point or goal in a tie game, it's always better to get, rather than give up, the last win in a split multi-game series.
So the Yankees' home split with those pesky Toronto Blue Jays feels more like a loss than a win.
Ryan Weathers started on Monday night, and allowed 5 runs in 6 innings. In the bottom of the 1st, Paul Goldschmidt hit his 377th career home run, tying him on the all-time list with Norm Cash and Jeff Kent. Next up is Matt Williams with 378. Didn't we just do this with Aaron Judge? Yes, because Judge passed Goldschmidt, among others.
The Yankees tied the game at 3-3 in the 4th inning. But former Houston Astro cheat George Springer hit yet another home run against the Yankees in the 5th, to make it 4-3, and the Jays made it 5-3 in the 6th. But the Yankees scored 4 in the 7th, on home runs by Cody Bellinger and Jazz Chisholm.
David Bednar got into trouble in the 9th, but held the Jays off just enough to make a winning pitcher out of reliever Paul Blackburn. Yankees 7, Blue Jays 6.
Will Warren started on Tuesday night, and lasted just 5 innings, allowing 3 runs. Ryan McMahon hit a home run in the 4th, Ben Rice did it in the 5th, and Camilo Doval made things dicey in the 9th, but hung on. Yankees 5, Blue Jays 4.
But the worrying signs were already there. Wednesday night was indicative of the Yankees' struggles so far. Cam Schlittler allowed no runs, on just 3 hits and no walks, over the 1st 4 innings. He allowed 2 singles in the 5th, and a double in the 6th, but kept the Jays off the scoreboard. But the Yankees weren't hitting, either.
In the 7th, Schlittler ran out of gas, and allowed 2 singles and a walk to force a run in, leaving the bases loaded with nobody out. Jake Bird got out of it with only 1 more run, which proved decisive. Yovanny Cruz made his major league debut: The 26-year-old righthander from the Dominican Republic, apparently no relation to fellow Yankee reliever Fernando Cruz, wore Number 96, and pitched 2 perfect innings of relief, striking out 3.
The Yankees only got 6 hits, 3 of them by Chisholm. Trey Yesavage, the Jays' own "Schlittler," who bedeviled the Yankees in last year's Playoffs, did so again. They threatened in the 9th: With 1 out, Cody Bellinger doubled, Chisholm singled, and Goldschmidt got a run home on a groundout. But Amed Rosario struck out to end it. Blue Jays 2, Yankees 1.
Last night's game was worse. Carlos Rodón pitched as if he is back, giving the Yankees' their best starting pitching performance in the series, allowing 1 run on 3 hits and 3 walks, with 7 strikeouts, over 5 innings.
But he threw 95 pitches, and that meant the 6th inning featured Yovanny Cruz again. This time, he wasn't so good: He got the 1st out, then gave up a double and hit a batter. Springer hit another homer in the 7th, this one off Doval. The Yankees only got 3 hits, including a double by McMahon, and 3 walks, 2 of them by Bellinger.
Blue Jays 2, Yankees 0. On the YES Network, David Cone said, very accurately, "This is one
you just wanna flush."
Four games, 36 innings, 13 runs, with the total going down with each game. And Met fans are stupid enough to think it's easy to hit in the new Yankee Stadium.
The Yankees are now 30-21, 4 1/2 games, 6 in the All-Important Loss Column, behind the Tampa Bay Rays, who come in for a 3-game series. Tonight, Gerrit Cole comes off the Injured List, and makes his 1st start of the season, nearly a third of the way in. The Yankees need him. Even more, they need to hit.
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