Yankees offense disappears again in series-splitting loss to Blue Jays

The Blue Jays shut out the Yankees 2-0 to split this four-game series. Carlos Rodon made his first start of the series and faced off against the Blue Jays' opener Braydon Fisher. 

The Blue Jays jumped out to an early 1-0 lead thanks to an RBI double from Daulton Varsho. 

In the bottom of the first inning, Cody Bellinger worked a two-out walk. However, Jazz Chisholm Jr. went down on strikes to end the inning. 

Yovanny Cruz replaced Rodon on the mound in the top of the sixth inning and picked up the first out, surrendered a double, then plunked a batter. Brent Headrick took over and picked up the final two outs of the frame. 

Final line for Rodon: Five innings pitched, three hits allowed, one earned run, walked three, and struck out seven on 94 pitches. He threw his fastball 48% of the time, the slider 28%, the changeup 15%, the sinker 7%, and the curveball 2%. Rodon topped out at 95.8 mph, averaging 93.6 in his heater with 18 swings and misses tonight. 

In the bottom half of the inning, Ben Rice led things off with a single, and Belli then worked his second walk of the night with one out. However, Jazz struck out for the third time tonight, and Paul Goldschmidt grounded out to strand Belli and Rice. 

Headrick came back out for the top of the seventh and picked up the first out of the inning. Camilo Doval came in relief for Headrick and served up a solo shot to George Springer to make it 2-0. 

Spencer Jones, Ryan McMahon and Anthony Volpe went three up, three down in the bottom of the seventh inning. 

Paul Blackburn got the call for the top of the eighth inning and navigated around a one-out double, putting together a scoreless frame. 

J.C. Escarra worked a leadoff walk in the bottom of the frame. But Rice lined out to center and Aaron Judge bounced into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play. 

Blackburn came back out for the ninth inning and faced the minimum, thanks to a 4-6-3 double play to end the frame. 

The Yankees will begin a crucial series against the Rays tomorrow. The 2023 AL Cy Young Award winner, Gerrit Cole, will make his return from Tommy John surgery with his first start since Game 5 of the 2024 World Series. He will face off against Nick Martinez. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. ET on the YES Network. 

My thoughts on the game: Solid start from Rodon, his command still wasn't quite there, but he was generating tons of whiffs tonight. He unfortunately got no run support tonight, as the offense, top to bottom, was putrid. Just three hits tonight, from the offense, and zero runs obviously. It is quite literally impossible to win if you dont score. Jazz, who has looked better lately, looked lost tonight with a four-strikeout performance, the dreaded golden sombrero. Jazz was just swinging and missing at everything tonight; he could have powered New York City tonight with all the wind from his whiffs. Judge has been really slumping; he hasn't hit a home run in nearly two weeks and just doesn't like himself right now. Jone, Rice, and McMahon each had a hit tonight, and that was the Yankees' offense. Just an unfortunate way to end the series. After winning the first two, the Yankees were in a great spot to win the series, but the offense laid an egg in the final two games, with just one run in the final 18 innings of the series. Not much more to say than that. On to tomorrow. I am excited for Cole’s return. 

 “Just going through it a little bit right now,” Aaron Boone said of Judge. “Usually, that means good things are coming on the other side. He'll get through it, and somebody will pay the price real soon.”