Jays win series over Yankees after 5-1 victory
The Blue Jays stepped up in the final game of a three game set against the New York Yankees, taking the final game 5-1. In a battle of aging left-handers, Mark Buehrle beat C.C. Sabathia, bouncing back after two rough starts.
Buehrle delivered five solid innings, got the win, and it’s great to see the Jays veteran starting pitchers starting to come through for the team and lead the staff. Roberto Osuna, Aaron Loup, and Brett Cecil did a great job out of the bullpen to finish off a great evening for the Jays staff.
The top half of the offence struggles against the veteran Sabathia, but it was more than made up for by the rest of the lineup. Russell Martin and Chris Colabello led the way. Martin is ridiculous at the moment, delivering another home run and garnering three base hits. Colabello added to his strong start as a Blue Jay, delivering a four hit night, including a double, two runs and an RBI.
Kevin Pillar, Ezequiel Carrera, and Ryan Goins chipped in as well with four base hits and three RBI.
A fundamentally sound baseball game by the entire team. Pitchers kept the ball down, mixed speeds and limited walks. The offence came up with some timely hits and did a good job of getting on base, and the defence was strong.
Game Notes
- Colabello has looked great since getting the call from Buffalo. The aforementioned 4/4 is a terrific night, and they weren’t cheap hits either. He’s finding barrel, driving the ball, and using the entire field. Can’t ask for anything more from a fill-in.
- Buehrle’s changeup looked good early on, getting left-handed hitters Jacoby Ellsbury, and Stephen Drew to swing over the pitch for strikeouts.
- Martin is completely locked in at the plate. After being down in the count early in the second inning in his second at bat, he worked it back to 3-2, and then drilled a fastball on the outside part of the plate back up the middle off Sabathia’s backside. In his next at bat he added his 7th HR of the year on a shot to left field, and chipped in a line drive to right for his third hit of the game.
- Buehrle got into some trouble in the fifth inning, but got out of with a big strikeout of Chris Young, and getting Teixeira to ground out with the bases loaded.
- A little bit of an early hook for Buehrle in this one. Osuna replaced the veteran in the 6th inning after 77 pitches, 49 of which were for strikes. However, after struggling in his last two starts and loading the bases in the previous inning, it’s not a huge surprise to see Gibbons go to the bullpen early with the off day tomorrow.
- Travis looks a little out of sync. Not a surprise at all, as he obviously wasn’t going to keep up his torrid April pace, and pitchers seem to be pitching to his weaknesses instead of challenging him like they were for the first portion of the season. He’s 4 for his last 28, including a grand slam, but it will be interesting to see if he can turn it back around and regain his form and timing at the plate.