Blue Jays ride Stroman and home runs to victory

The Blue Jays won the rubber match with the New York Yankees on Thursday night, coming away with a 4-2 victory in a very quick and well pitched game.

In his third start of this young 2016 season, Marcus Stroman (2-0) got himself back on track as the team’s ace in a big way. Stroman threw 8 complete innings, allowing only 3 hits, 2 walks, and 2 earned runs. He gave way to closer Roberto Osuna, who continued his excellent start to the season with his 4th save, retiring Mark Teixeira, Brian McCann, and Carlos Beltran in order.

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Outside of the 4th inning, Stroman looked absolutely dominant and continued to encourage Blue Jays fans that he can lead the staff, who have been the strength of the club in the early going. The young right hander was able to keep the ball down in the zone and use both his slider and curveball effectively to keep the Yankees’ hitters off balance. If not for a Ryan Goins‘ error in the troublesome 4th, Stroman and the Jays may have even kept the Yankees scoreless on Thursday night.

On the offensive side of the ball, the Blue Jays didn’t dominate but they provided enough to come away with the victory. Reigning MVP Josh Donaldson continued his hot start to the season despite battling injury, with his 5th home run in 10 games. The 3-run shot brought in Kevin Pillar who had doubled, and also Russell Martin to give the Blue Jays the lead in the 5th.

Donaldson is now tied with Robinson Cano for the AL lead in dingers, has taken the lead in RBI, and is riding a 10 game hitting streak to begin the season. Joe Carter has the franchise record with 16 games to start the season in 1992, so Donaldson is coming within striking distance.

Troy Tulowitzki also got ahold of a Nathan Eovaldi offering and sent it into the 2nd deck in the 6th inning, bringing the game to 4-2, where it would stay.

Despite a cold start to the season for the Jays’ offence and bullpen, they are now 5-5 entering their series with the Boston Red Sox (4-4). R.A. Dickey (1-1) is slated to square off against Rick Porcello (1-0) in the opener, with the first pitch going at 7:10 ET at Fenway Park.