Yankees drop series opener to Blue Jays thanks to one stupid inning

You would be forgiven for feeling extremely confident about the Yankees’ chances of winning this game through the first four innings. After all, they had opened up a 2-0 lead.

While that’s far from a comfortable margin, with the way Masahiro Tanaka was pitching, it seemed like they might not need much more than that. After allowing a single to the first batter he faced, Tanaka retired 12 of the next 13 hitters. Then, as can happen, things changed with just one inning.

The Blue Jays struck back with a big fifth inning, in which they recorded all of their runs and four of their eight hits. The Yankees had chances after that, but managed just one more run, which was not enough. In total, they went 1-12 with runners in scoring position and left 11 on base for the game. That turned a promising start turning into one of the more annoying games of the year, and a 4-3 loss to Toronto.

The Yankees started a bit slow themselves, but eventually got on the board in the fourth. After the last couple days, it’s fitting that Clint Frazier would come up with something big. With one on, Frazier got the Yankees on the board with a massive 412 foot home run.

Despite how impressively Tanaka started off the game, Toronto eventually got to him in the fifth. Randal Grichuk led off the bottom of the frame with a home run of his own, cutting the Yankees’ lead in half. It would be gone a few batters later. Cavan Biggio walked and later stole second after the Blue Jays used a review to successfully overturn his being called out.

Freddy Galvis then added yet another home run, putting Toronto in front. Vladmir Guerrero Jr. tacked on another run with an RBI single, scoring Eric Sogard who had just doubled. Those hits would basically be the totality of the Blue Jays’ offense.

Following the Frazier home run, the Yankees offense failed to cash in from the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings, despite having runners on all three times. They finally managed to get back on the board, thanks to another crushed home run. Aaron Hicks did the damage this time, hitting another one over 400 feet to get the Yankees back within a run.

Jonathan Holder and Chad Green kept the Yankees in the game with scoreless innings, but they were for naught. The Yankees stranded another two runners for good measure in the ninth, and that was that.

These games happen, and it’s hard to get too mad considering this team hasn’t lost a series in over a month. That being said, this game was annoying.

Box score.