Blue Jays tee off on J.A. Happ, beat Yankees 8-2

Prior to Friday night’s game, J.A. Happ had made two previous starts against the Blue Jays, and he had allowed just one home run between them. Considering that home runs have been a big issue for him this season, that was notable. That luck ran out, though, and fast.

Toronto hit four home runs on the day, including three off Happ as the starter struggled once again. It also didn’t help that the Yankees’ offense scored fewer that six runs for the first time in over a week. It wasn’t a banner day for either facet of the team, as the Yankees dropped one to the Jays by a score of 8-2.

The home runs started off pretty early on the day. With two outs and a runner on, Randal Grichuk took Happ deep to put the Blue Jays in the lead in the first. The next inning it was Teoscar Hernandez’s turn. He hit Toronto’s second home run of the day, this one just a solo shot.

The Yankees got on the board in the fourth but not after a wild sequence. After Cameron Maybin struck out looking, the Yankees’ dugout was chirping at the home-plate umpire. It appeared Aaron Boone had been tossed and came out to argue, but at some point it became clear that Brett Gardner had actually been the one ejected for reasons unknown. He came out and got in the umpire’s face and had to be held back before exiting the field. After that all settled down, Mike Tauchman, whose at-bat had been interrupted by the madness, homered.

The Blue Jays, howeverm immediately added to their lead, despite the Yankees nearly getting out of the inning on two different occasions. With two outs in the fourth, Brandon Drury doubled. During the next at-bat, he attempted to move up a base on a ball in the dirt but was thrown out to end the inning. Only problem? He wasn’t out. Toronto reviewed and Drury was ruled safe.

After a walk in the next at-bat, Happ appeared to get out of the inning by getting a popup into foul territory. Instead, Yankees’ fielders, most notably DJ LeMahieu lost the ball in the air, and it fell in for a foul ball. Predictably on the very next pitch, Danny Jansen homered, because of course.

A Bo Bichette catch robbed the Yankees of a couple runs in the fifth, but they finally did chip away at the deficit in the seventh as Mike Ford led off the frame with a home run.

In relief of Happ, the Yankees got two scoreless innings from Nestor Cortes Jr. and then brought in Tommy Kahnle for the eighth. He walked Vladmir Guerrero Jr. to start the inning and, a few batters later, Hernandez homered, putting the Yankees in an even bigger hole going to the ninth. The Bombers didn’t have an answer and that was that.

Box score.