The Yankees picked up a massive win over the first-place Blue Jays

New York—The Yankees took down the Blue Jays 3-1 in game two of this three-game set. Luis Gil got the starting nod for the Yankees and faced off against Chris Bassitt. 

In the top of the first inning, Gil worked around a two-out double to put together a scoreless frame. 

Trent Grisham, Ben Rice, and Aaron Judge went down in order for the Yankees in the bottom of the first inning. 

Cody Bellinger worked a leadoff walk, then the next batter, Jazz Chisholm Jr., reached on an E3, allowing Belli to move up to third. Jasson Dominguez followed that up with an RBI single, to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead;  Jazz went first to third. A couple of batters later, Austin Wells tacked on another run via a sacrifice fly to make it a 2-0 game.

Judge lined a two-out single down the third base line in the bottom of the third inning. Judge then stole second base, followed by a walk from Belli. However, Jazz flew out to center field to strand two runners on base. 

In the top of the fourth inning, Gil walked back-to-back batters to start the inning; those walks came back to bite him as former Yankee Isiah Kiner-Falefa picked up an RBI fielder's choice to make it a 2-1 game. 

Gil worked a nice and easy 1-2-3 top of the fifth inning on just eight pitches. 

Ryan McMahon worked a leadoff walk in the bottom of the fifth inning. A couple of batters later, Rice hit a sharp single to right field. But Judge and Belli both grounded out to strand two runners on base. 

Gil served up a one-out double in the top of the sixth inning. With two outs, a single was lined to right field, but Belli made a perfect throw to gun down Bo Bichette at the plate, keeping the Yankees' lead intact. 

The game then went into a rain delay after an hour and 46 minutes, and play resumed.  Jazz led off the bottom of the sixth with a single, then was caught stealing. Dominguez worked a walk, and Anthony Volpe then put a double in the gap to put two runners in scoring position. Wells came through with a sac fly to make it a 3-1 ballgame.

Luke Weaver took over for Gil in the top of the seventh and gave up a leadoff double, then picked up two fly outs. Fernando Cruz replaced Weaver and walked a batter, then picked up a groundout to work out of trouble. 

Luis Gils' final line: six innings pitched, three hits allowed, one earned run, four walks, seven swings and misses, and one strikeout on 90 pitches. Gil threw his fastball over half the time at 56%, the changeup 27%, and the slider 18% of the time. Gil was great today, holding one of the best offenses in baseball to just one run, but as usual for Gil, the walks were an issue, leading to that one run he allowed. 

The top of the Yankees' order went down in order in the bottom half of the seventh inning. 

Cruz remained in the game for the top of the eighth inning and gave up a leadoff single, then picked up the first two outs. David Bednar was called upon to record a four-out save and got the final out of the frame. 

In the top of the ninth inning, Bednar retired the Jays in order with a pair of punch outs to end this one 3-1. 

The Yankees will look to win the series tomorrow with Max Fried on the mound, facing off against future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer. The first pitch is scheduled for 1:35 p.m. ET on the YES Network. 

My thoughts on the game: Gil was excellent today, outside of the four walks. The bullpen did its job in a big way as Weaver, Cruz, and Bednar combined for three shutout innings. The offense did just enough. Wells had two big sac flies, which ended up being the difference. Domunguez, who has lost a significant amount of playing time over the month, also came up with a big RBI single. On to tomorrow, as the Yankees will look to win the series and hopefully move within two games of first place. Sorry, I dont have time to put quotes in today.