Yankees Highlights: Masahiro Tanaka sharp as Bombers take series from Toronto

The Yankees have returned from the All-Star break with a few games that weren’t very Yankee-like. They entered this series with the Blue Jays with a lineup loaded with power, but the two AL East foes submitted a close, well-pitched three-game set. With Masahiro Tanaka on the mound, the Yankees were able to do just enough today to ensure they didn’t drop the series to their lesser rivals, keeping pace in the AL East and maintaining their 6.5-game lead with a 4-2 victory.

Winner of the Game

Gio Urshela had a fun game, driving in two runs early in the game and scoring what ultimately was the winning run on a wild pitch, using a nifty and acrobatic slide to take advantage of a poor tag attempt by Danny Jansen:

Tanaka also had a strong afternoon. A pair of homers were the lone blemishes (how often can we say that about a Tanaka start?), though his second solo shot allowed, one to Eric Sogard, was a bit of a Yankee Stadium special, as it had just an eight-percent chance of going for a hit per Statcast. Tanaka finished with a line of six innings, just four hits, the two runs, and five strikeouts against zero walks.

Loser of the Game

The only member of the lineup to fail to reach base was Didi Gregorius, so I suppose it’s Didi by default. Gregorius has been cold as of late, and today’s 0-4 showing brought his season line down to .252/.274/.388, good for just a 71 wRC+.

Chart

FanGraphs