Blue Jays Grapefruit League recap: 11-5 loss to Yankees

The Blue Jays dropped a Thursday afternoon contest to the New York Yankees by a score of 11-5. In a game filled with home runs, the Blue Jays were out-slugged on this day.

Fresh off signing his somewhat controversial contract, Aaron Sanchez took to the hill for the Blue Jays on Thursday afternoon. Sanchez was re-upped at the league minimum salary a few hours before the game, a move that raised some eyebrows around the MLB, whether the Jays are within their right to do so or not. To make matters a little worse on Thursday, the Yankees brought their power bats to the field, going yard a total of 4 times in the game.

Sanchez lasted 2.1 innings, striking out 3 while walking one, and giving up 3 earned runs on 2 home runs. The start was going relatively well for the budding ace, until the Yankees touched him up in the 3rd inning, with both home runs allowed coming in the frame.

The Yankees received home runs from Aaron Hicks, Starlin Castro, Rob Refsnyder, and Clint Frazier, with both Hicks and Castro getting to Sanchez before he was removed. Frazier’s home run came in the 7th, which tied an otherwise close affair.

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The wheels came off for the Blue Jays in the 8th, as Dominic Leone was knocked around for 2 runs, before Lucas Harrell came in to pitch the 9th, and was given an equally rude welcoming, allowing 4 runs in the final frame.

On the offensive side of things, Kevin Pillar added another triple to his Grapefruit League stat line, continuing to look strong with the bat this spring. Troy Tulowitzki collected 2 hits, Kendrys Morales had another double, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia had 2 RBIs in the loss.

Next: Blue Jays: Moves they must make to contend in 2017

Next up, the Blue will travel to Clearwater, Florida for a game on Friday against the Phillies. Marco Estrada will get the start for the Blue Jays, with the game getting underway at 1:05 EST.