Yankees 2, Blue Jays 4: New York shut down by David Price

The Yankees and Blue Jays faced off in the first of a three-game series and things didn't go exactly as planned. The Yankees were absolutely shut down by David Price as the lefty went seven innings, allowing just two hits and walk while striking out seven and actually retiring 14 in a row to end his night. The New York bullpen did their best to keep the team in the game, but Toronto had already done their damage by then.

Adam Warren took a beating in the first inning to seal the fate of the game. He allowed a hit to Ben Revere and hit Josh Donaldson with a pitch before allowing a single to Jose Bautista, bringing in the first run. Edwin Encarnacion then hit a ground ball to bring in a second run, and Justin Smoak doubled for a third. After that, things cooled down for both sides, but Warren was only able to go 3.1 innings before needing to give way to the bullpen.

The Yankees got 4.2 innings out of their bullpen tonight, able to get three scoreless before the Blue Jays added another run. James Pazos finished the fourth inning, Caleb Cotham struck out two in 1.2 innings, and Chasen Shreve loaded the bases with two walks and a hit in the sixth before getting out of the jam. Things fell apart in the seventh when Branden Pinder allowed two walks and a hit before being pulled with the bases loaded and no outs. Andrew Bailey wasn't able to keep the Jays off the board after Russell Martin hit a deep enough fly ball to score a fourth run.

The offense sleepwalked through a majority of the game, only challenging Price in the third inning when they were able to load the bases before Alex Rodriguez (three strikeouts tonight) and Brian McCann failed to bring in a run. Fast forward to the eighth, after the lefty was gone, and the Yankees finally struck. Didi Gregorius walked and Dustin Ackley singled to chase Aaron Sanchez from the game. Brett Cecil entered and promptly allowed a single to Jacoby Ellsbury (second hit of the night!), plating their first run of the game, but Cecil was able to strike out Brett Gardner, A-Rod and McCann to put the offense down. Greg Bird made things fun for a quick second in the ninth when he hit a solo shot to center field, but he couldn't save the game. Overall, the Yankees struck out 11 times on the night and left 13 runners on base.

At this point, the Yankees are now 3.5 games behind the first-place Blue Jays and will need to do a better job in this series than they did in the last if they want to keep pace. With one of the next two games being started by Ivan Nova, it's looking pretty bad for New York right now.