Blue Jays’ youngsters are too much for the Yankees bullpen in tough loss

Games like this one are really no fun. The Yankees had the first lead of the day. They lost the lead, got it back, and ultimately gave it away again. It’s their second loss in a row, and the best they can hope for now is to split the series with a win tomorrow. Here’s how it happened.

It was all pitching for the first third of the game. Wilmer Font went two innings for the Blue Jays and couldn’t have turned in a better performance. He retired all six Yankee hitters he faced an added three strikeouts along the way.

The Yankees’ opener, Chad Green, wasn’t quite as clean. He walked Vladimir Guererro Jr. and allowed him to advance to second on a wild pitch, but that was the only action in the first. Green struck out one in 24 pitches.

In the second inning, Stephen Tarpley made things a bit more interesting when we walked the bases loaded for the red-hot Bo Bichette. Thankfully, Bichette went down swinging after seeing a steady diet of sliders, ending the inning on a high note. Tarpley kept things going in the bottom of the third, rolling 1-2-3 through the heart of the Toronto order.

Jacob Waguespack, who has a fun to say but not fun to write last name, came out for the Jays in the third and retired the first five Yankees he faced. Gary Sanchez was the sixth hitter to face Waguespack, and Gary brought home the first run of the ball game with a 426-foot shot to left field. It was Sanchez’s 25th homer of the year:

For all the good feelings Sanchez’s welcome back shot brought, they didn’t last long. Tarpley quickly allowed two runners to reach in the bottom of the fourth, which brought Chance Adams into the game with one out. Teoscar Hernandez dropped the barrel on a 1-1 curveball from Adams and made it a 3-1 game.

The 3-1 lead only held the fifth inning though. In the top of the sixth, Aaron Judge led the inning off with a single into left field. Waguespack got Didi Gregorius and Sanchez to fly out, but couldn’t record the final out of the inning. Gio Urshela broke the tie by hitting a 422-foot homer to center field, knocking Waguespack out of the game along the way.

Tommy Kahnle held the tie in place in the bottom of the sixth, working a 1-2-3 inning, and the Yankees took the lead in the top of the seventh. Mike Ford got the offense going with a walk, and he moved up to third on Mike Tauchman’s double into the right-center gap. DJ LeMahieu brought Ford into score on a sac fly to the warning track in right field. The RBI gave the Yankees a one-run lead heading into the final nine outs of the game.

The Yankees sent Adam Ottavino to the hill for the bottom of the seventh, and it didn’t take long for things to unravel. After getting the nine hitter to groundout, the top of the Toronto order got to Ottavino. Bichette walked, then Cavan Biggio blooped a single into right, putting runners on second and first. Vladito broke the game open with a two-run triple down the first base line, one that was very weakly hit but found a fortunate hole in the Yankees’ infield. Ottavino got out of the inning after the triple but not before the damage was done.

Following the big triple, the Yankees couldn’t get enough offense going to retake the lead. Brett Gardner had a hit in the eighth, and Tauchman reached on a walk in the ninth. The Yankees never really threatened though, as the game quickly ended when LeMahieu grounded into a double play for the final two outs. They’ll play the final game of the four-game series tomorrow at 1:07 PM EST.

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