Judge's Blast in the 13th Propels Yanks over Jays

The Yankees and Blue Jays had never played a game against each other in which both teams were scoreless entering extra innings: until tonight, as we had a real barn burner Wednesday night in Toronto. An eight inning gem by Sonny Gray did not go down as a win in the books for him, yet it was not gone to waste. The Yankees bullpen followed up Gray’s performance with five shutout innings of their own, and the Yanks offense was able to strike first in the 13^th inning, with an Aaron Judge home run, followed by a Giancarlo Stanton blast as the Yanks outlasted the Jays 3-0 in 13. 

 

Photo Credit: AP Frank Gunn The Canadian Press

To say that this game was moving along rather quickly in the beginning is an understatement, as both teams were held without a hit through three, and Sonny Gray retired the first twelve batters he faced. Gray ran into a bit of trouble in the 5th as he had runners on the corners with nobody out. He was aided by a poor baserunning decision by Justin Smoak who was thrown out at home, and later Gray threw the perfect pitch to start the double play ball to get him out of trouble. 

The Yanks loaded the bases in the 5th, yet were unable to get a run out of it after Greg Bird grounded out to end the threat. From the sixth inning on, both starters continued to cruise. Sam Gaviglio threw an outstanding game for the Blue Jays, and did not give the Yanks much to hit through his seven innings of work. Gray wound up giving the Yankees eight innings of shutout baseball. This was the second time Gray has gone eight innings in his last four starts. 

 

Photo Credit: AP Frank Gunn The Canadian Press

In extra innings, neither team had much going as both bullpens were handling each lineup with relative ease: until the 13th inning.  The seventh Blue Jay pitcher of the night was Joe Biagini, who has had much better nights. It started with a Brett Gardner base hit, which was followed up by an Aaron Judge home run to left, that broke the scoreless tie to make it 2-0. After Bird flew out to center, Giancarlo stepped to the plate and hit an absolute laser to left field to give the Yanks a third run. 

 

Photo Credit: AP Frank Gunn The Canadian Press

The game was closed out by none other than Aroldis Chapman, who gave up a double but otherwise looked fairly sharp, as the Yanks took it in thirteen 3-0. In a game that was uneventful throughout, the Yanks did a great job at battling through it and getting the victory on the road. 

Winning Pitcher: David Robertson (4-2, 4.08 ERA): 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K

Losing Pitcher: Joe Biagini (0-5, 8.28 ERA): 1.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 1 K

Save: Aroldis Chapman (15)

Notables:

Sonny Gray: (ND) 8.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 8 K

Aaron Judge: 1-5, HR (17) 2 RBI

Giancarlo Stanton: 1-4, HR (14), RBI, 2 BB

Brett Gardner: 2-6, R

Miguel Andujar: 1-3, 2B, 2 BB

Looking Ahead:

The Yankees have an off day on Thursday, before facing the Mets in Citi Field over the weekend for the newest rendition of the Subway Series. The Mets have been struggling as of late, losers of six straight and eleven out of their last thirteen, yet they will be brining two of their best pitchers to the mound over the weekend in DeGromm and Syndergard. 

Article By: Matthew Luzzi

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