03-30-18 NYY vs TOR

Line Score - Final

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
NYY	0	1	0	1	0	2	0	0	0	4	8	0
TOR	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	5	0

Box Score

TOR		AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	BA		NYY		AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	BA
2B	Travis	4	0	0	0	0	2	.000		CF	Gardner, B	4	0	1	0	1	0	.222
DH	Donaldson	4	0	0	0	0	3	.000		RF	Judge	4	0	0	0	0	1	.250
1B	Smoak	4	0	1	0	0	2	.143		DH	Stanton	4	0	0	0	0	2	.333
LF	Granderson	3	0	0	0	0	2	.200		SS	Gregorius	3	2	2	0	1	0	.333
PH	Pearce	1	1	1	0	0	0	.500		C	Sánchez, G	4	1	0	0	0	1	.111
3B	Solarte	4	0	1	1	0	0	.250		1B	Walker, N	3	1	1	0	1	0	.286
RF	Grichuk	4	1	1	1	0	1	.143		LF	McKinney	4	0	1	0	0	1	.250
C	Martin, R	2	0	0	0	1	0	.000		3B	Drury	3	0	2	2	1	0	.429
CF	Pillar	3	0	1	0	0	1	.333		2B	Wade	4	0	1	2	0	1	.200
SS	Díaz	2	0	0	0	0	1	.000
PH	Morales, K	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000
SS	Ngoepe	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000

TOR	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	P-S	ERA		NYY	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	P-S	ERA
Sanchez, Aa	5.2	8	4	4	4	2	89-48	6.35		Tanaka, M	6.0	3	1	1	0	8	79-61	1.50
Barnes, D	0.1	0	0	0	0	0	6-3	6.75		Kahnle	1.1	0	0	0	1	1	18-10	0.00
Tepera	1.0	0	0	0	0	2	11-9	0.00		Robertson	0.2	0	0	0	0	0	5-3	0.00
Clippard	1.0	0	0	0	0	2	12-9	4.50		Chapman	1.0	2	1	1	0	3	23-18	4.50
Osuna	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	13-9	0.00

For the first time since 1985, the Jays have started the season by scoring fewer than two runs in each of their first two games. And the Jays won the division in 1985! Forget the fact that they have seven hits through two games, which is a new franchise record...

Did Sanchez look better tonight than Happ did last night? I’ve gone back and forth on it. I don’t know. His final line reads 5.2 IP, 4 ER, 8 H, 2 K, 4 BB. Sanchez certainly looked promising early on, as he was whipping fastballs across the plate at 97 MPH, with plenty of movement. He stuck with the fastball for most of the night, with his changeup as his main secondary pitch. Not much from the curveball tonight, for better or worse.

The Yankees first got to Sanchez in the 2nd, when Brandon Drury hit an RBI double. Drury picked up another RBI in the 4th.

The game came apart for Sanchez in the 6th. He started the inning by walking Didi Gregorius. He then had an extended battle with Gary Sanchez, during which his command was noticeably wobbly. G. Sanchez eventually popped out. A couple of batters later, Sanchez found himself in a bases loaded situation, with reduced velocity, and some obvious control issues. Gibbons decided to leave him in to face Tyler Wade. I liked the decision. While Sanchez looked to be nearly running on empty, it wasn’t as if he was facing Giancarlo Stanton - Wade seemed a relatively easy out. Besides, Barnes was the alternative in the bullpen, and he has been less than stellar so far this spring. The plan backfired, as Wade hit a two-run double. I was wrong, Gibbons was wrong. I can certainly see the argument for pulling Sanchez before that at-bat, but I just don’t think it was an outrageous decision. That was the end of the line for Sanchez.

Do you really want to talk about the offence? Is my tone really this negative so early in the season?
Grichuk did what he’s supposed to do in the 2nd, when he belted an opposite field shot. I expect him to be an All-Star this year. We’ve seen flashes of his defence already, and his bat could play up at the Rogers Centre. Might as well start working on the Fan Vote now. Elsewhere, Pillar hit a double in the 2nd, before the Yankees retired 16 straight batters. It was ugly. And don’t get too excited about Pillar - he struck out on a ball in the dirt in the 5th. Of course, he has been our most productive batter so far, so it’s not fair to rag on him all that much.

For what it’s worth, the 7th inning was particularly forgettable. Granderson struck out, Solarte popped out, and Grichuk flied out… and Tommy Kahnle threw all of six pitches.

The Jays got on base again in the 8th! Martin walked! Nothing came of it, but still. There was some hope in the 9th. With two outs, Pearce came through with a pinch-hit double. Granderson followed that with an RBI double. That brought Grichuk to the plate, as the tying runner. He struck out looking. It was exciting for a minute there.

I wish Donaldson took more at-bats during spring training. He looks late to everything right now, and I’m not sure that it’s related to his shoulder being dead. It seems more like rust to me. Three strikeouts tonight.

I noticed last night that I spend more time talking about the bullpen than anything else. I’m going to try to shorten this bit down. Barnes cleaned up after Sanchez in the 6th, as he got Brett Gardner to pop out to end the inning. Tepera deserves a little more recognition. He came in for the 7th, and struck out both Aaron Judge and Stanton, before Gregorius grounded out to end the frame. That was a strong showing. Clippard pitched the 8th. He picked up a couple of strikeouts and a flyout, and looked better than last night.

Osuna pitched the 9th. For those keeping score at home, that means the Jays used five relievers last night, and four tonight. It’s not hard to imagine Luis Santos taking Barnes’ spot, at least on a temporary basis, to provide some long relief. Back to Osuna. He had a strong showing, as Drury grounded out, Wade bunted into a groundout (which Osuna fielded well), and Gardner grounded out. Most importantly, Osuna’s fastball was sitting between 95-96 MPH.

A note on the defence: it wasn’t great in the 2nd. The problems started when Gregorius hit a triple that sailed over Pillar’s head. That one was preventable. As he often does, Pillar broke towards home when the ball came off the bat, and then had to readjust and run towards the outfield wall. His misstep left him a couple feet short of making the catch. To his credit, Solarte saved a run after that, as he made a heads up throw to home to get Gregorius. There was one more slight misplay, as Travis allowed Billy McKinney to sneak a grounder past him. That hit really just showed that Travis has slightly limited range, but it wasn’t a big deal, and he has moved pretty well so far. Even so, the defence has been frustrating through the first couple of games.

We may never have a lead again.