Yankees Rally Late for 11-5 Win Over Blue Jays

The Blue Jays lost by a final score of 11-5 to the New York Yankees on a (relatively) chilly day in western Florida. How many days until Opening Day*?

Scoring began in the first, when Chris Carter grounded out to drive Ronald Torreyes home. New York’s 1-0 lead didn’t last long, however. In the bottom of the first, Yankee starter Luis Cessa, after getting the first two outs of the inning, allowed five straight Blue Jay base runners to give Toronto a 3-1 lead. In the second, Kevin Pillar scored on Ezequiel Carrera’s single.

The Yankees, in the top of the third, hit two home runs, separated by a strike out, drawing within one of the Blue Jays. Again in the fourth, Rob Refsnyder homered. The Blue Jays scored in the bottom of the sixth on a Ryan Goins triple, leaving their run count at five, but the Yankees came right back on a solo home run from Clint Frazier in the seventh and continued to score through the eighth and ninth, ending with an 11-5 score.

On the other side of the ball, pitching struggled early for the Blue Jays. Aaron Sanchez, in his start just hours following the news of his contract renewal at the league minimum (and the controversy that surrounded the update), lasted 2.1 innings, giving up three eared runs on two home runs, one walk and three strikeouts. Jason Grilli, in the fourth, continued his home-run-allowing trend, but got out of the inning otherwise unscathed.

Pitching kept the Yankees off the board until the seventh. Tim Mayza, an interesting dark horse bullpen candidate, allowed a home run to Clint Frazier, then, in the eighth, Dominic Leone gave up two earned runs on two hits, making the score 7-5. Lucas Harrell, coming out to pitch the top of the ninth, was unable to stop the bleeding, as he allowed the final four runs (two earned) of the game.

Leone gets the loss and James Kaprielian the win in a game that took 3 hours, 19 minutes to complete. The official attendance count was 5,480.

*There are 17 days, to be exact. Not that I’m counting or anything.

Follow Mark Colley on Instagram and Twitter at @360BlueJayNews and @MarkColley.