Yankees

Luis García Jr. Makes It Interesting, But Yankees Fall Short 4-3

By ••3 min read
Luis García Jr. Makes It Interesting, But Yankees Fall Short 4-3

The Yankees spent most of Saturday afternoon looking completely lost at the plate, then somehow gave themselves a chance to steal the game late.

They just couldn’t finish it.

Toronto held on for a 4-3 win at Yankee Stadium, dropping New York to 73-56 after Dylan Cease carried a no-hitter into the 7th inning and made the Yankees’ lineup look uncomfortable for most of the afternoon.

Cease was the story early. The Yankees drew walks and created a few opportunities, but they couldn’t get a hit through the first 6 innings. New York had chances to make those walks hurt, including Trent Grisham reaching to open the 1st and Spencer Jones walking in the 2nd, but both opportunities disappeared without a run.

Meanwhile, Toronto kept putting traffic on the bases against Ryan Weathers.

George Springer gave the Blue Jays a 1-0 lead with an RBI single in the 1st. Charles McAdoo made it 2-0 in the 4th, and Nathan Lukes added another RBI single in the 5th.

Weathers allowed 8 hits and 2 runs over just 3 1/3 innings before leaving with left forearm discomfort. That’s obviously something the Yankees will have to watch closely, especially this late in the season.

Then the Yankees finally showed some life.

With 2 outs in the 7th, Jazz Chisholm Jr. broke up Cease’s no-hit bid with a single to right on Cease’s 106th pitch. Austin Wells followed with an RBI single that scored George Lombard Jr. and cut Toronto’s lead to 3-1.

José Caballero was then hit by a pitch to load the bases.

That was the moment.

Grisham came to the plate with a chance to completely flip the game, but he grounded out to first and Toronto escaped.

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Lukes immediately made that missed opportunity hurt even more by homering in the top of the 8th, pushing the Blue Jays’ lead to 4-1.

But the Yankees weren’t finished.

Ben Rice was hit by a pitch in the bottom of the 8th before Luis García Jr. crushed a 2-run homer to right. Suddenly it was 4-3, and Yankee Stadium had some life again.

New York had one final opportunity in the 9th.

Chisholm opened the inning with a double and later stole third, putting the tying run 90 feet away. But Wells struck out looking, Caballero grounded out and Grisham struck out swinging to end it.

That’s the frustrating part about this loss. The Yankees were basically asleep offensively for 6 innings, finally broke through, then had the tying run standing at third base in the 9th and couldn’t bring him home.

Cease deserves credit. He allowed just 2 hits over 6 2/3 innings while striking out 8. But the Yankees still drew 5 walks against him. There were opportunities.

New York finished with only 4 hits and struck out 12 times.

Chisholm had 2 of those hits. García delivered the biggest swing with his 26th homer of the season.

Now the Yankees turn to Carlos Rodón in Sunday’s series finale against José Soriano.

At 73-56, every game starts carrying a little more weight.

And after nearly stealing this one late, the Yankees can’t afford another afternoon where the offense waits until the 7th inning to show up.

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