Yankees 4 Blue Jays 5 (walk-off)
When that ball came off Bo Bichettes bat, I thought it was a popup to the outfield, but he got more of it than I figured. Gotta love a walk-off homer. Two home runs on the day for Bichette. Hes been locked in the last few days.
It seemed like one of those games of mistakes:
- Fly ball to the wall in right that Josh Palacios, for whatever reason, decided he couldnt catch. It turned out to be costly. A runner on first and one-out, it would have been the second out and TJ Zeuch struck out the next batter, which would have ended the inning (space/time and all that), but Gio Urshela followed with a two-out two-run single. Palacios hold on a roster spot is not strong enough to allow catchable balls to fall. Unfortuately, for TJs ERA, a big mistake is not an error.
- Later Cavan Biggio lines one at Aaron Judge in right. Judge has it go under his glove, easy triple. But Cavan rounded third and the throw came behind him. Maybe miscommunication with him and Luis Rivera, but that cant happen.
On the Yankees side:
- With a runner on first, and the Yankees in the shift, Marcus Semien ground one to Gleyber Torres at short, Rougned Odor started for the ball and then had to back up to second. Torres from his knees flipped to Odor, who decided to try to bare hand it. He didnt. Everyone safe. Not called an error. Id love it explained. Buck and Pat spent the next five minutes complaining about the shift, when they should know Odor can screw up playing straight up too.
- Sixth inning, Jays load the bases (singles by Gurriel and Vlad, and Kirk hit by pitch) with no outs. Wild pitch scores a run (thankfully, we couldnt score a run by hitting).
Other than that, well, we should have won big (but then walk-off wins are fun). 12 hits, 3 home runs, 2 walks and a hit batter should have added up to more than 5 runs. But 0 for 10 with RISP doesnt help. The good:
- Bo was 3 for 5, with two home runs. And he stole a base.
- Kirk had his first hit of the season, a home run.
- Rowdy Tellez and Vlad both had 2 hits, both hitting the ball hard.
- Everyone in the lineup reached base.
And our bullpen was terrific. We got two scoreless innings each from Trent Thornton and Anthony Castro (Castro up today to replace Merryweather on the roster. It surprised me that, being the new guy, he got the call in a tie game, but it worked). And a nice (I wanted to say quick, but you know) inning from Rafael Dolis.
TJ Zeuch wasnt good. Being fair two of the four runs against should have been unearned, but 4 innings, 4 hits, 2 walks, 2 K and 2 homers isnt going to cut it. Both home runs were off Aaron Judges bat.
Jays of the Day: Fangraphs is stuck at the second inning, so lets do this the old fashioned way. Bo gets the platinum JoD. Also Kirk, Thornton, Castro and Dolis.
Suckage: Zeuch, Palacios (in part for the misplay in the outfield and in part for the ground out/force at home with the bases loaded in the sixth) and Marcus Semien (popup with the bases loaded in the sixth).
Jays are now .500, sitting 6-6. Yankees are 5-7.
Tomorrow the Jays play in Kansas City. Id say who is going to start but I dont know.
We had 656 comments in the GameThread. Siefert led us to an exciting victory.