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The first game of the Yankees and Blue Jays series ended with a victory for Toronto on Friday night. A two-run Justin Smoak homer off of Tommy Kahnle in the seventh inning gave the Jays a 4-3 lead that stuck for the rest of the game. Today, the division rivals will face off again for game two.
Taking the mound for the Yankees is James Paxton, who has been brilliant recently. In nine starts since his July 26th clunker in Boston, Paxton has earned a 2.50 ERA in 54 innings. He has 61 strikeouts and has kept hitters to a .533 OPS too. He’s now looking like the top-of-the-rotation starter the Yankees traded for.
Opposite Paxton is T.J. Zeuch, a 24-year-old righty who FanGraphs lists as the 11th-best prospect in the Jays’ system. Zeuch has just three games of MLB experience coming into today’s start. He actually faced the Yankees his last time out. In their matchup on September 15th, Zeuch struck out five and gave up 2 runs in 5.1 relief innings.
Offensively, these lineups are about what one might expect from these two teams given that the division has already been secured. After leaving last night’s game, Gleyber Torres will not play today and will instead get an MRI on his sore right hamstring. DJ LeMahieu and Luke Voit will sit with the day off too.
Saturday matinee in the Bronx.
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) September 21, 2019
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Going for a season-high SIXTH straight win! #LetsGoBlueJays pic.twitter.com/4jdZAoRcHK
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) September 21, 2019
As always, fans can listen to the game on WFAN or WADO. The game can be viewed on “Fubo.TV”: https://fave.co/2TYISiV and on the YES Network.