BRONX, NY — The New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays waited through a two-hour, 11-minute rain delay Wednesday night, but once the game finally began in the Bronx, fans were treated to exactly what had been advertised—a dominant pitchers duel between two rising young arms.
With the pair of right-handers on the bump, Toronto’s Trey Yesavage outlasted Yankees’ Cam Schlittler as the Blue Jays escaped Yankee Stadium with a 2-1 victory, handing New York another frustrating one-run loss in a tightly contested AL East matchup.
The Blue Jays and Yankees dealt with a two hour and an 11 minute rain delay Wednesday night in the Bronx with an original first pitch of 7:05PM ET moved to 9:10PM ET – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
For six innings, Schlittler and Yesavage traded zeros in a game defined by overpowering fastballs, swing-and-miss stuff and failed scoring opportunities. Schlittler came out firing upper-90s heat, striking out Daulton Varsho with a 100 MPH fastball in the opening inning before later inducing a double play off Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s bat.
The 25-year-old in pinstripes finished with seven strikeouts across six innings, allowing two runs on eight hits while continuing what has become one of the best starts to a career by a young pitcher in franchise history. Through his first 25 career starts, Schlittler owns a 2.27 ERA with 159 strikeouts—numbers only that mirror Paul Skenes.
“Just unacceptable. I walked two guys,” Schlittler said of the decisive seventh inning. “They’re a team that’s going to BABIP the (heck) out of you, so some unlucky stuff, but you can’t walk the bottom of the order. Just unfortunate I couldn’t close that one out.”
Yesavage was equally dominant for Toronto, allowing just two hits over six scoreless innings while striking out eight without issuing a walk. Aaron Boone credited the 22-year-old rookie’s unique delivery and pitch mix after the game.
“He was throwing strikes,” Boone said. “A unique angle, good stuff, mixed fastball, slider and split really well. I thought we had a few good swings off him but for the most part, he was executing.”
The game remained scoreless until the seventh inning when Toronto finally broke through against a fatigued Schlittler. A soft ground ball to third base for a hit (Ernie Clement), a walk (Jesús Sánchez) and a perfectly executed sacrifice bunt by Brandon Valenzuela loaded the bases before Andrés Giménez worked a lengthy bases-loaded walk on an 11-pitch at bat to force home the game’s first run.
Guerrero Jr., winning the American League LatinoMVP Award in 2021, followed with a sacrifice fly to extend the lead to 2-0.
2021 AL LatinoMVP Vladimir Guerrero Jr. added his mark on Wednesday’s win with an RBI sacrifice fly in the seventh inning – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
Boone admitted Schlittler appeared to run out of gas during Giménez’s extended at-bat.
“Gimenez put a really good at bat on him when he was probably at or near the end there,” Boone said. “I was hoping if he could get him, maybe he could get Springer on the ground. But once Gimenez just kinda kept going and going and outlasted him and worked a pretty tough walk, obviously that was it.”
The Yankees offense struggled to capitalize all night despite strong performances from Jazz Chisholm Jr., who went 3-for-4, and Cody Bellinger, who added a hustle double while also making one of the game’s best defensive plays with a second inning running catch in left field—robbing Toronto’s Yohendrick Piñango of extra bases.
Aaron Judge endured a tough night, finishing 0-for-4 with four strikeouts, which extends a stretch of just four hits over his last 26 at bats.
After dropping Wednesday night’s game vs. Toronto (5-11 in one run games), New York dropped to 30-20 and now sits four games back in the AL East standings – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
New York also lost center fielder Trent Grisham during the game after he experienced discomfort in his left knee while stretching a bloop double into extra bases. Boone said Grisham would undergo imaging stating, “definitely raises your eyebrows,” though Grisham later expressed optimism the injury would not require an injured list stint.
One of the Yankees’ biggest bright spots came late when Yovanny Cruz made his MLB debut after eight seasons in the minors. Cruz, 26, of San Francisco de Macoris, Dominican Republic, fired two perfect innings with three strikeouts while touching 100.9 MPH.
“Thank God for this opportunity, the opportunity the team gave me there,” Cruz said through interpreter Marlon Abreu. “I felt a little nervous going in but very happy with the outing.”
After eight years in the minor leagues, Yovanny Cruz made his MLB debut for the Yankees Wednesday night and pitched two perfect innings out of the bullpen – Image Credit: MLB
He later revealed that his teammate Fernando Cruz has helped him in adjusting this week by providing pointers when the time calls for it.
“One of the key things he told me was to remember to breathe. You know, breathe in and breathe out. Keep it simple out there and just focus on doing the job.”
The Yankees (30-20) mounted a late rally in the ninth after Paul Goldschmidt’s RBI groundout cut the deficit to one, but Toronto (22-27) closed the door to secure the win.
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