On Monday night, the New York Yankees did something that the franchise had never done before. They played a regular-season game at TD Ballpark in Dunedin, Florida. The temporary home of the Toronto Blue Jays, the park played host to the first game of a 3-game set last night.
While the Yanks’ offense continued its early-season struggles, Kyle Higashioka continued his dominance against the Jays, lifting the team to a 3-1 victory.
Cole Train
Yankee ace Gerrit Cole took the mound on Monday, making his third start of the season. In the first inning, he didn’t quite have his best stuff. Cole allowed consecutive singles to Bo Bichette and Vlad Guerrero Jr., and also threw a pitch to the backstop. An RBI groundout by Randal Grichuk scored Bichette, giving Toronto a 1-0 lead. However, it was all Cole from there.
The righthander retired the final 15 batters he faced, from the 2nd inning through the 6th. His final line: 6 innings, 3 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, and 8 strikeouts. For Cole, it was another unsurprisingly phenomenal outing to begin the season.
However, Cole wasn’t the only pitcher dealing on Monday night.
Robbie Ray-Bans
Robbie Ray made his first start of the year for Toronto, after opening the season on the IL. With the Yankee offense struggling to begin the season, Ray didn’t have much trouble through the start of his outing.
The left-hander had held the Yankees scoreless through the first 4 innings of the game, until he was victimized by a familiar foe of the Blue Jays.
Yankee backup catcher Kyle Higashioka, making his second start of the year, sent an 0-2 fastball into right-center field for a 2-run home run, giving the Yankees a 2-1 lead. Ray finished the inning without further damage, but it was too little and too late.
Ray’s final line: 5 innings, 3 hits, 2 runs, 3 walks, and 3 strikeouts. It was definitely an encouraging return for a Jays team that will need a good year out of the southpaw.
Higashioka: The Home Run Stroka
The go-ahead home run was the first of the year for Higashioka, and also was his first career go-ahead home run.
But, he wasn’t done there. While the rest of the Yankee hitters floundered against Toronto’s pitching staff, Higashioka connected again for some insurance.
“Higashioka against Toronto” is almost becoming the new “Gleyber Torres against Baltimore”. Since the start of last season, Higashioka is batting .350 (7/20) with 5 home runs and 10 RBIs against the Blue Jays. Last night was his second multi-homer game against the team, following that memorable 3-homer night from September of last year.
No Bullpen Blues Here
Naturally, Higashioka got most of the fanfare from this win, as he provided literally all of the offensive output. However, equally as important was the performance by the Yankees’ pitching staff.
I discussed Cole’s great outing, as he got the Yankees through 6 innings with the lead. Justin Wilson came on to pitch in the 7th, making just his second appearance of the season after beginning it on the injured list. Wilson retired the side in order, with flyouts from Cavan Biggio and Lourdes Gurriel Jr., and a groundout from Rowdy Tellez.
Darren O’Day pitched the 8th, and got into a bit of a jam. After retiring the first two batters, the sidewinding pitcher allowed a single by Marcus Semien, and then walked Bo Bichette. With 2 runners on and 2 outs, O’Day buckled down following a visit from pitching coach Matt Blake, and struck out Vlad Guerrero Jr. to end the inning.
In the 9th, Aroldis Chapman was presented with his first save opportunity of the year. The flamethrower worked around a leadoff double by Randal Grichuk, forcing a flyout from Biggio, and then striking out Gurriel Jr. and Tellez to end the ballgame.
Chapman has been using his newly-revived splitter often this season, and has had tremendous success with the pitch. Check this stat out:
And now check this stat out:
The Yankee pitching staff has been incredible this season, and like the tweet mentions, they’re still missing one of their best arms.
The offense will get going. At this point, just 10 games in, that still isn’t much of a concern. When it finally does, assuming the bullpen can continue dominating, this team is going to be nearly impossible to stop.