Yankees offense comes alive in 8-3 win over Blue Jays
Rodon worked a nice and easy 1-2-3 top of the first inning on just nine pitches and notched his first strikeout of the ballgame.
Ben Rice singled to right field with one out in the bottom of the first inning. But Luis Garcia Jr. bounced into a fielder's choice, and Cody Bellinger flew out to end the inning, making it 22 consecutive first innings in which the Yankees haven't scored.
The Blue Jays went three up, three down against Rodon in the top half of the second inning.
George Lombard Jr. led off the bottom of the second inning with a single through the right side of the infield. Spencer Jones followed with a rocket RBI double to get the scoring started. The next batter, Austin Wells, ripped an RBI double of his own to make it 2-0.
The Blue Jays responded in the top of the third inning with a run thanks to a sacrifice fly from Brett Bateman to make it a 2-1 game.
With runners on first and second with one out in the top of the fourth inning, it looked like Rodon induced a double play, but Lombard botched it to load the bases, his third error in the last four games. That error would cost the Yankees a run as Daz Cameron tied the game with a sacrifice fly.
Paul Blackburn replaced Rodon on the mound in the top of the fifth inning and retired the side in order on just nine pitches.
Final line for Rodon: Four innings pitched, two hits allowed, two runs, only one earned due to Lombard's error, walked two, and struck out two on 76 pitches. He threw his fastball 54% of the time, the slider 18%, the sinker 16%, and the changeup 12%. Rodon topped out at 96.7 mph, sitting at 94.4 mph on his heater, and had four whiffs.
“It was good enough,” Rodon said. “Obviously, I'd like to get past four there and get into the fifth. I need to be a little more efficient with the pitch count and hopefully work on that next week”
Blackburn came back out for the sixth inning and forced the Blue Jays to go three up, three down.
Lombard led off the bottom of the sixth inning with an infield single. Jones followed with a single into center field, putting runners on first and second. The next batter, Jazz Chisholm Jr., laid down a perfect bunt single to load the bases with nobody out. The Yankees were in danger of stranding the bases loaded with nobody out, but Trent Grisham worked a walk to give them the lead. The Blue Jays brought in Mason Fluharty, a tough leftie to face Rice, and Rice came through with a two-run single into right field to make it a 5-2 game.
“He's a tough lefty to face,” Rice said on facing Fluharty. “I mean, everything's just working away from you. You just got to stay within yourself there, try to let the ball travel as best you can, and hopefully keep it in the air.”
Ryan Yarbrough took over for Blackburn in the top of the seventh and retired the Blue Jays in order to work a shutdown inning.
Belli led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a single right back up the middle, for his first hit since returning from the IL. Then, with two outs, Jazz crushed a no-doubt two-run bomb into the second deck in right field, his 18th home run of the year and first since August 4 to make it a 7-2 game.
“I'm just trying to go out there to work to help my teammates win,” Jazz said. “Just trying to barrel up the ball, just not strike out. Put the barrel on the ball and just keep going.”
Yarbrough came back out for the top of the eighth inning and allowed an RBI single to Alejandro Kirk, making it 7-3 and ending Yarbrough’s day. Brent Headrick came in relief and picked up the final out of the inning.
The Yankees got the run right back in the bottom of the eighth inning, and Grisham crushed a solo shot to straightaway center field, his 18th of the year, to extend the Yankees' lead to 8-3.
Headrick remained in the game for the top of the ninth inning and picked up the final three outs to secure the series win for the Yankees.
The Yankees will have an off day tomorrow, then welcome the Astros to the Bronx on Tuesday for a three-game set. Will Warren will take the mound for the Yankees; the Astros starter is still TBD. First pitch is slated for 7:05 p.m. ET on the YES Network.
My thoughts on the game: Decent start from Rodon; his command wasn't the best, but that's expected in his second start off the IL. Blackburn continued his dominant season with two perfect innings to lower his ERA to 1.73. Yarbrough allowed a run, but picked up five outs; I wouldn't have minded if they kept him in for the final four outs to give Headrick the day off. Headrick worked a nice and easy scoreless ninth inning to lower his ERA to 1.52. For the third time in the last five games, the Yankees had double-digit hits after having double-digit hits just three times in the 25 games prior to that. Rice, Lombard, Jazz, and Jones all had multi-hit games today. That was the best game Jazz has had in quite some time; a lot of Yankees fans have turned on Jazz due to his lackluster season thus far, but he could quickly make fans forget about that if he has a good final month of the season and carries that into October. Grisham went deep; he has now hit seven home runs in August with a .920 OPS. Belli had a base hit in his return from the IL and the best part about him returning is that we will see a whole lot less of Heliot Ramos playing. Great series win; it could very well have been a sweep, but I will never complain about winning a series and going 5-1 in the week. I also forgot to mention this yesterday: Giancarlo Stanton strained his left calf and is likely done for the season. What is even sadder is that next year is the final year of his contract, and there may very well not be a season next year, so that could put an end to Big-G’s career. On to Tuesday, as every series is a must-win from here on out if the Yankees want to have a chance to win the division.
“It's great,” Rice said of having Belli back. “I mean, you know, not just in the lineup, but to have him in the clubhouse, just his presence means everything to us, and it's been a joy to have him back.”
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