On a chilly Saturday night in the 9-8 win over Toronto in the Bronx, the bullpen struggled, forcing Aaron Boone to rely on Clay Holmes to get the final two outs and the former What looked like an easy victory for the Yankees turned out to be a blow.
After Luke Weaver gave up three runs in relief to help get the Blue Jays back in the game, Ian Hamilton allowed another run in the top of the ninth, leaving the game with one out and runners on second and third base. .
Holmes, who has not shown any particular sharpness this season, achieved the shutout victory, but given that the Yankees trailed by six points after the second inning and led 9-2 after the sixth inning, it was not expected that the bullpen would be under such stress. I hadn’t.
However, Hamilton was knocked out by Davis Schneider’s RBI double.
Holmes allowed Alejandro Kirk’s groundout and Cavan Biggio’s RBI for a one-run lead, then struck out George Springer to end the game.
Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton hit deep in the bottom of the first inning.
Anthony Rizzo also hit his first home run of the year, Stanton had three hits for the first time since 2022, and the Yankees had the most RBIs of a young season.
With the win, the Yankees improved to 7-2, marking the second time since 2004 that they had won seven of their first nine games.
But it wasn’t an ideal night for the Yankees.
Facing right-hander Kevin Gausman, who had slowed down during his brief appearance, the Yankees scored three runs in the first and second innings.
That’s because the offensive line, which was blanked for the second time this season in Friday’s home opener, was mostly silent.
They jumped on quickly at the stadium on a chilly Saturday night.
Juan Soto tied the game with a one-out walk in the bottom of the first inning, reaching base for the first of three innings on the night, and Judge followed with a 425-foot blast into the visitors’ bullpen in left-center field.
Gausman’s two-run home run on an 0-2 splitter was Judge’s second of the season and gave the Yankees a 2-0 lead.
Rizzo popped out before Stanton sent a single into the right-field seats for his second home run.
For Stanton, it broke an 11-0 skid. He had just 3 hits in 24 at bats during the season.
For the second consecutive day, the Blue Jays wasted George Springer’s leadoff double in the first inning.
Clark Schmidt gave up two runs in 4¹/₃ innings, followed by the retirements of Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette and Justin Turner, leaving Springer in third place.
One inning later, Schmidt allowed a one-out double to Ernie Clement, but thanks to great play from Oswaldo Cabrera, he again escaped unscathed. Cabrera flew to the right front and made a power throw from third base to stop Brian Sarben. inning.
Anthony Volpe took the lead in the bottom of the second inning by reaching out to interfere with the catcher, stealing second base. Austin Wells walked and Cabrera singled to load the bases.
Gleyber Torres’ sacrifice fly scored Volpe and sent Wells to third base.
Wells scored on a passed ball, then Soto’s single to right drove in Cabrera to make it 6-0 and end Gausman’s miserable night.
In the third inning, Schmidt had one out and the bases loaded. Justin Turner hit a sacrifice fly to give Toronto the lead.
The right-handed pitcher allowed a leadoff double in the 4th inning, but this double came after Clement and Schmidt threw 91 pitches and left the game with one out and 1st base in the 5th inning.
He was replaced by Luke Weaver, but had a slump, allowing three runs before Victor Gonzalez was brought on in the seventh inning to get the final two outs.
Hamilton finished the eighth inning, but found himself in a pinch in the ninth when Turner and Daniel Vogelbach were on base to start the inning.
