BRONX, N.Y. – The Yankees lived up to their moniker of the Bronx Bombers on Saturday night in a 9-8 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.
What’s puzzling is where Toronto’s witty nickname is because they tacked on six unanswered runs in the last three innings of the game in an attempt to take the series.
Aaron Judge put the Yankees up early, following a Juan Soto walk with a two-run home run that traveled 425 feet.
“I was watching Soto coming at me getting ready to score and Judge-y coming around third base and I’m like ‘that’s how you draw it up right there,’” the Yankees skipper Aaron Boone said.
Giancarlo Stanton followed it up with a solo shot of his own, which hit the top of the wall and into the seats to put the Yankees up three after one inning. Stanton finished the night 3-for-4 at the plate. Within one night, his averaged jumped from .167 to .214.
“Obviously he hasn’t got a lot of results before tonight,” Boone said. “He’s been in his at-bats.
There been some swing-and-miss in there but there’s been really competitive at-bats and
sometimes you got to roll with that.”
The second inning brought in three more runs for the Yankees, but it was a quieter brand of
small ball. Anthony Volpe, Austin Wells, and Oswaldo Cabrera all loaded the bases for Gleyber Torres, whose 105-mph sac fly to center plated Volpe. A passed ball then scored Well.
Juan Soto threaded a grounder through the right side to bring Cabrera home.
Justin Turner hit a sac fly to left to get the Blue Jays on the board in the third inning. lone run scored in the third. They tacked on another in the fourth thanks to Kevin Kiermaier’s RBI groundout.
The Yankees got those runs right back in the fifth when Anthony Rizzo’s bat launched a ball at a humble 96.9 mph for approximately 365 feet to break open an 8-2 lead and seemingly put things out of reach early.
Another RBI single for Soto, for good measure, made it a seven-run game in the sixth.
The Blue Jays packed some action in right before the seventh-inning stretch — Vladimir Guerrero Jr. leading off with a home run to right off reliever Luke Weaver. Bo Bichette doubled and Turner walked, so when Daniel Vogelbach hit a double, it tightened the score to 9-4.
It was only the first out of the seventh with Ernie Clement’s sac fly to center, but it was still enough to pile on another run in the slugfest.
In the ninth, however, Turner and Vogelbach clogged the bases again. Pinch-hitter Davis Schneider hit a double that looked like it was about to leave the ballpark to bring the Blue Jays within three.
Exit reliever Ian Hamilton and enter Clay Holmes.
Alejandro Kirk grounded out to Volpe, but Clement scored to make it 9-7.
Cavan Biggio, put in to pinch-hit for Isaiah Kiner-Falefa, tagged a hard-hit single that went just past an outstretched Volpe on the infield dirt to bring the visitors within one.
It took a slider and back-to-back sweepers to get Springer, who was 2-for-4 with a walk on the
night coming to bat in the ninth, to strikeout swinging.
“Credit to Blue Jays, they kept scrapping and got themselves back into it with a chance,” Boone said.
Now, the Yankees have their first home win of the season, a feeling they had yet to experience
this season.
“Especially when you run out to a big lead and you’re hanging on for dear life at the end, that’s
an extra exhale,” Boone said. “To get the first one here at home is, yeah ‘exhale’ is part of it, but you enjoy it, too.”
