Blue Jays bats quiet as Yankee’s sweep Toronto: Jays Shut Out 2-0

The Toronto Blue Jays were unable to score any runs for a pitching staff that kept the game within reach.  Swept for only the third time this year, the Blue Jays ended their series with the Yankees with the added pain of being shut out.  The last time the Jays were shut out was on August 15th, 2016 and the Yankees were the ones to do it.

Marcus Stroman went five strong innings striking out eight batters.  Stroman had the type of game the Jays needed out of their young starting pitcher with Marcus getting ahead in the count early and striking out an extensive number of Yankee batters. He allowed only two runs on seven hits and one walk over his five innings of work.

The Blue Jays had their chances; however, as again Toronto stranded men on base in seven of their nine innings during the game.

Troy Tulowitzki had doubles in both the second and the seventh and was stranded in scoring position both times.  In the seventh, the Jays thought that they had a rally going with Tulowitzki on second when Michael Saunders hit a single that advanced Troy to third.  Video review by the Yankees took away Saunders single, and Tulowitzki was ultimately left stranded on third when Melvin Uptin Jr. struck out to end the inning.

Devon Travis had a single in the first, and a double in the sixth inning.  His double was erased when he was caught in a controversial rundown.  The third base umpire called Travis out for leaving the base path; however, he was never three feet away from the path that he chose at the start of the rundown.  He was also never tagged out and touched third base safely.  The umpire’s interpretation of the base path rule caused an argument between the umpire and the third base coach; but ultimately, Travis was called out while allowing Josh Donaldson to reach second base safely from  the batter’s box.

Russell Martin, the Blue’s Jays’ most productive hitter of late,  seemed to have injured his knee on an awkward swing in the 4th inning.  He stayed in the game, despite his obvious discomfort.  Eyes will be on the injury reports in the coming days to see whether Martin’s discomfort will remove his bat from the lineup.

Next: On Martin's second half and his upcoming years of contract

Following tomorrow’s off day Marco Estrada (3.23) will take on Rick Porcello (3.56) of the Red Sox on Friday, September 9th at 7:07.