Game Summary #1-Draft

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and his Toronto Blue Jays came into the Bronx last night and spoiled Yankees legend Derek Jeter’s retirement night as the Jays cruise past the struggling Yankees in a 6-3 win, taking the first three of a four-game series in New York. A tight game had the doors blown off in the top of the ninth inning with the Jays up 5-3 and the AL MVP candidate, Guerrero Jr. hits his 41^st home run off Yankees struggling closer Aroldis Chapman, to take a 6-3 lead and suck any of the life of a possible Yankees rally in the bottom of the 9^th.

If you want to see how to waste a league season-high 13 game winning streak, look no farther than the Bronx, as the Yankees went from the hottest team in baseball to a 2-9 record since their winning streak ended in late August. No team exemplifies inconsistency as much as the New York Yankees, as the entire season has been filled with winning streaks or great stretches followed by lifeless series and losing streaks. If I was talking about the Yankees just two weeks ago, they would have seemed like an unbeatable team that had made all the right moves at the trade deadline and a team filled with life and energy, but today they are a team that has blown a multiple game lead on the number one wild card spot to their biggest rival, the Boston Red sox.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, there are the Toronto Blue Jays who since the Yankees win streak ended, are 10-1 and only sit 1.5 games back of the Yankees spot for the second wild-card spot. The Jays and Yankees have been competitive this year, both with a 10-10 record vs each other, but as the season starts to wind down and games get more and more important, the Jays have found wins vs the Yankees as the Bombers disappoint. Besides Vladimir Guerrero Jr, the Jays catalyst vs the Yankees this season has been Marcus Semien who has 38 home runs this year, with 7 of them coming off Yankees pitchers.

Last night's game started off quiet with both pitchers allowing zero runs through the first three innings. Yankees had a top prospect, Luis Gil, on the mound, who had three games under his belt. In those first three games of his career, Gil had pitched 16 innings with an impressive ERA of 0.00, the best start to any Yankees pitchers career, and he kept this momentum going into his 4^th start with three scoreless innings vs the hot Blue Jays, only allowing one hit, but his young age of 23 years old started to show as he struggled to find the strike zone allowing seven walks, four in his first three innings. Gil managed to avoid damage from these walks until the top of the fourth when he walked the bases loaded with only one out and Yankees manager, Aaron Boone, kept him on a tight leash, pulling him out after 3.1 innings pitched, and brought in reliever Lucas Luetge to try to get the Yanks out of a bad spot. But in his first pitch in relief he threw a ball in the dirt which was mishandled by catcher Gary Sanchez and Lourdes Gurriel easily scores from 3^rd on the wild pitch. Luetge would then end up giving up a single to left field to Semien on a curveball, which scored Jansen and Lamb, but Semien got caught trying to turn his single into a double where he was caught at 2^nd base, ending the inning but not before the Jays would go up three runs, a clear turning point in this game. Those three runs would go on Gil’s stats as his 0.00 would rise to 1.42.

Blue Jays starter Alek Manoah’s night would last longer than Gil’s night, as he pitched 5.2 innings, allowing only three hits and no runs in his first five innings. But in this fifth inning, he would get two outs but allowed two hits. His good start would take a turn with Yankees twelve-year vet at the plate with two outs and a full count where the 38-year-old center fielder would send a three-run shot to the right-field seats, tying the game at three in the bottom of the 5^th. The home run seemed to be the turning point the Yankees needed to gain the momentum in this game and end their disappointing stretch of games, but this would end up being the only runs New York would get all game.

The game would stay quiet until the top 7^th inning when Marcus Semien would hit a grounder against reliever Clay Holmes, and the routine ground out tuned into an error as shortstop Andrew Velazquez would sail the ball over the first baseman’s head and Semien would reach 2^nd base. The error would turn into a run as Teoscar Hernandez would hit a single through the gap to right, scoring Semien from 2^nd base. The Jays would another run to their lead in the 8^th inning against Chad Green, who would allow a triple Loures Gurriel. A Jake Lamb sacrifice fly-out would score the runner from third, making it a 5-3 ball game. The Yankees would work through the Jays bullpen, getting a few hits but no runs.

In the top of the 9^th, Yankees would bring in struggling star closer, Aroldis Chapman, whose struggles would continue with the first batter he faced, Guerrero Jr. On a 1-1 count, the MVP candidate proves why he is deserving of the award, blasting a 97-mph fastball into the left-field seats making it a 6-3 ballgame, and shutting the door and any hopes of a Yankees rally. In the Yankees final inning, reliever Jordan Romano would get two outs and with the Yankees final strike Brett Gardner would send a deep fly ball to center field, and Jarrod Dyson would make a spectacular play, laying out to make a back handed grab to end the game.

The Yankees will face the Jays again tonight to attempt to avoid the series sweep after three disappointing games against the Jays. As the season starts to wind down, the Yankees desperately need to get out of their slump and hope to do so tonight, while the Jays hope to ride their momentum and inch closer to the second wild-card spot.