Blue Jays Lose A Saturday Battle Against the Yankees

The Blue Jays dropped the second game of the three games set on Saturday afternoon against the New York Yankees 5-3.  Ross Stripling would get the start against former two-time Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber.

Stripling was not predicted to be in the starting rotation when Spring Training began, however, because of a handful of injuries he was thrust into the start on Saturday and did not fare well.  He looked to be in a full battle in his short outing and had deep pitch counts to each of the hitters.  The veteran right handed pitcher was able to get into the fourth inning, but was lifted from the game with two runners on and only one out.  His pitching line would read 3.1 IP allowing nine base runners and three earned runs while striking out five.

The bullpen pitched very well in relief with the exception of Rafael Dolis who walked three batters, surrendering two runs while only getting two outs.  Ryan Borucki looked exceptionally good as he needed just 14 pitches to get through the fifth inning, while Tim Mayza collected two strike outs in his inning pitched that was split between the sixth and seventh.

Mayza’s outing marked the first time he pitched in a regular season game since he went down to an arm injury on September 13, 2019 that required Tommy John surgery on two different parts of his arm.

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At the plate Marcus Semien led the way as he got on base in three times in plate appearances.  Semien picked up two RBIs, one of which came on a solo home run in the top of the fifth that chased Kluber from the game.  Semien also picked up a pair of stolen bases off of Gary Sanchez, the first caused a throw into centre field that allowed Danny Jansen to score in the third inning.

The offence struggled throughout the game, only collecting a handful of soft hits and leaving base runners on.  Bo Bichette looked lost at the plate in his first three at bats, even in his fourth plate appearance he was able to get one to just stay fair for his first hit of the season.  Bichette had struggled at the plate over his first two games, but a “bloop” like he had is something that tends to turn things around for a player.

Rowdy Tellez has also struggled to start the season as he collected three strikeouts on Saturday and has now gone 0 for 8 at the plate.  In the one at-bat he did not strike out in, he chased two balls out of the zone which led to a soft pop up with runners in scoring position. The Yankees pitchers seem to be throwing him a bountiful amount of off-speed pitches that he is not picking up.

Player of the Game: Marcus Semien
2 for 4, HR (1), 2 RBI (2), 2 SB (2)

The Blue Jays and Yankees will play the rubber match on Sunday afternoon where T.J Zeuch will take the mound against Domingo German.