About Last Night: Blue Jays 9, Yankees 2

by Derek McAdam

August 19, 2022

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The Yankees continue to struggle, dropping the first of a four-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays by a 9-2 score.

Quick Stats:

• Frankie Montas: 6 IP, 8 H, 6 ER, 1 BB, 2 K

• Aaron Judge has two hits in his last 22 at-bats

• Oswaldo Cabrera recorded his first two hits as a Major League player last night.

The Big Story: Once again, the Yankee offense has been shut down, although the pitching did not do much to help. The Blue Jays scored five runs in the 2nd off a fielder’s choice from Santiago Espinal, a George Springer RBI single, and then a three-run home run from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. The Yankees scored a couple in the bottom of the 3rd with an RBI single from DJ LeMahieu, while Judge knocked in a run on a fielder’s choice. However, the Blue Jays came back in the 5th with an RBI double from Alejandro Kirk. In the 7th, Kirk knocked in Springer on a sacrifice fly, while Teoscar Hernandez followed up with with a two-run double to give the Blue Jays a 9-2 lead.

Player of the Game: Springer went 5-for-5 against the Yankees last night. There is no question he deserves the credit for Player of the Game.

Notable Performances:

• Cabrera got his first two hits in the big leagues, while Rizzo and LeMahieu also had multi-hit nights.

• The Blue Jays pitching staff did a nice job of keeping the Yankees’ offense quiet, despite their recent struggles regardless.

Better to Forget: It’s safe to say the Yankees as an entire team would like to forget last night. They can’t seem to find any momentum, whatsoever.

My Take: It’s instinct to overreact when a team is in a slump or just simply not living up to expectations. One thing that absolutely HAS to happen is change. Whether it be getting Giancarlo Stanton back next week (potentially) or changing the roster around some more, the offense needs a jolt. The pitching has not been fantastic, but the offense has done absolutely nothing over the past two and a half weeks. Every good team goes into a slump or two throughout the season, but never does a slump extend into several weeks, as is the Yankees’ case. Does this mean that the Yankees should fire Aaron Boone or hitting coach Dillon Lawson? It could happen, but I don’t believe it is going to solve much at the current time. Let’s see what happens this weekend and go from there.

What’s Next? The Yankees continue their four-game series against the Blue Jays tonight at Yankee Stadium. Jameson Taillon is expected to start for the Yankees while Kevin Gausman is expected to start for the Blue Jays. The game will begin at 7:05 p.m. EST and will be broadcast on Apple TV+.