Yanks Waste Chances vs. Jays

Nice crowd, Toronto.

The Yankees began a roadtrip last night, against the Toronto Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre, always a tough place for them. Masahiro Tanaka started, and got a 2-run home run from Clint Frazier in the top of the 4th. It was still 2-0 Yankees going to the bottom of the 5th, at which point Tanaka was cruising.

Then he fell victim to his frequently hungry gopher. He gave up home runs to Randal Grichuk and Freddy Galvis, and an RBI single to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who has now done something that his Hall-of-Famer father occasionally did: Beat the Yankees.

Jonathan Holder pitched a scoreless 7th inning, and Chad Green a perfect 8th. But the Yankee bats did not get the job done: They stranded a runner in the 1st, wasted 2 walks in the 3rd, wasted men on 2nd and 3rd in the 5th, wasted 2 leadoff walks in the 6th (that Cliche Alert did not come into play this time), erased a leadoff double by DJ LeMahieu with a double play in the 7th, wasted men on 1st and 2nd in the 8th, and did that again in the 9th. Aaron Hicks did hit a home run in the 8th, to close the gap, but it wasn't enough.

Blue Jays 4, Yankees 3. WP: Thomas Pannone (2-3). SV: Ken Giles (11). LP: Tanaka (3-5).

The series continues tonight. James Paxton starts against Trent Thornton.

Injury update: Didi Gregorius is playing at Triple-A Scranton, and could rejoin the Yankees in Cleveland on Friday. Manager Aaron Boone has said that Aaron Judge, Greg Bird and Dellin Betances are all going to the minor-league complex in Tampa to "start ramping up." Giancarlo Stanton is already there. That makes it sound as if they could all be back sometime this month. This may also be the case with Troy Tulowitzki.

Luis Severino, Jordan Montgomery and Ben Heller have resumed throwing, and Jonathan Loasiga will probably do so next week, but none of these is likely to return before the All-Star Break.