After struggling to bring home runs for most of the game, Mark Teixeira hit a home run in the top of the eighth. That homer brought the Yankees within one run. Joe Girardi then turned to Ivan Nova to pitch the bottom of the eighth. Four runs later, the Yankees were down five and any hope of winning was pretty much gone. That disastrous eighth inning allowed the Blue Jays to take the second game of the series with a 7-2 win.
The game's first run came in the bottom of the second inning. With one out in the inning, Michael Pineda allowed a one-out walk to Russell Martin. After Justin Smoak struck out, Ryan Goins came to the plate. Pineda quickly got ahead in the count 0-2, but Goins came back to work it full. On the seventh pitch of the at bat, Goins doubled to right-center. That scored Martin and made it 1-0.
The Yankees got on the board in the fifth inning. The Yankees' rally naturally started with the bottom of the order. Ronald Torreyes continued his hot start to the season with a double. Then Austin Romine pitched in with a single, moving Torreyes to third. Jacoby Ellsbury couldn't get the run home, but Aaron Hicks did with his ground out to third. The Yankees might have been a bit fortunate that Josh Donaldson bobbled the ball, possibly preventing a double play. Despite that, the game was tied.
However in the bottom half of the inning, the Blue Jays took the lead right back. The inning started when Pineda allowed a lead-off walk to Smoak. Goins then hit another double, moving Smoak to third. The next batter was Kevin Pillar, who grounded one to short. The run scored, and the throw from Torreyes was wild. Mark Teixeira couldn't scoop it, allowing Goins to move to third. Goins advancing would come back to cost the Yankees. The next batter was Donaldson, who grounded into a double play, but Goins scored on the play. After five innings, it was 3-1 Toronto.
Pineda's day would be done after the sixth inning. He finished with a line of six innings pitched, allowing three runs on five hits and three walks, with six strikeouts.
The Yankees had been putting guys on, but had failed to score other than the run in the fifth. That changed in the eighth when Teixeira hit one off the foul poul (or screen in Toronto, technically). That cut the Blue Jays' lead to just one run.
Ivan Nova was brought in to pitch the eighth, and he immediately gave back that run and more. Donaldson led off the inning for Toronto with a double. After a wild pitch, Jose Bautista doubled, scoring Donaldson. Bautista moved to third on a Edwin Encarnacion ground out, and then scored when Troy Tulowitzki singled. The Blue Jays then tacked on more against Nova. By the time the inning was over, it was 7-2 Blue Jays.
The Yankees' offense had no answer in the ninth inning, dropping the second game of the series.
The Yankees and Blue Jays will wrap up their series in Toronto tomorrow at 7 eastern. Nathan Eovaldi will get the start for the Yankees, while Marcus Stroman will take the mound for Toronto.