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Dingers would be the only way to score runs tonight for either team. Thankfully the Yankees had more men on base with their home runs. The Bombers were victorious tonight verses their Canadian neighbors, beating the Blue Jays 5-3 on this lovely New York City evening in the Bronx.
Hiroki Kuroda started off the game a bit shaky. He gave up two home runs in the first two innings of tonight's outing, the first to Edwin Encarnacion with a runner on base and the second to Brett Lawrie to lead off the second inning. HIROK then settled down and manage to hold the Blue Jays to just those three runs. His final line would read six innings pitched, giving up six hits and three earned runs via the two dingers while striking out three and walking two. Not his best of starts but certainly not his worst. It's always good when the starting pitcher can shake off a rough start and give the offense a chance to win, which is just what happened.
Vernon Wells continued his hot April with a lead off monster shot to Monument Park in the bottom of the second inning to cut the score down to 3-1. The following inning, the third if you're keeping track, the Yankees would take the lead and never look back. Hey, that rhymed. Jayson Nix, who provided really good offense and defense tonight, and Brett Gardner both singled to get on base. Ben Francisco, one of the only down sides of this game, popped out because he's Ben Francisco. Then Robinson Cano once again showed us how sweet his swing truly is and launched a three run bomb to right field, giving the Yankees a 4-3 lead. Just pay him already. Sheesh. Francisco Cervelli would follow up with the final dinger of the night the next inning, giving the Yankees the final score of the evening.
Joba Chamberlain, who according to YES was distracted by midges many moons ago, would come in to pitch a scoreless seventh inning. David Robertson would follow up with a non-Houdini-ish easy inning as well. Then Mo came in to pitch the ninth. Spoiler alert: he shut the Jays down effortlessly and notched another save in his long line of saves. Hope I didn't blow your mind with that info or anything.
Everything seemed to be on point for the Yankees tonight. Good pitching, quality bullpen work, timely offense, and defense from the corners and center field. Ichiro seems to be swinging the bat better lately. Jayson Nix flashed the glove out there tonight. Lyle Overbay made a really nice leaping grab. Brett Gardner had a nice diving catch. Finally, Ben Francisco did a great job of bunting to get on base, getting called out, then getting a single via an overturned umpire call. It was an historic moment to behold. No, really. Why else would Ben Francisco be on this team other than to make HISTORY! WITH AN ELLIPSIS.
Tomorrow night at 7PM the Yankees will play the Blue Jays for the second time in this four game series. Ivan Nova will "pitch" against Josh Johnson.
Highlights
Top 15 Commenters of the Game
