TORONTO — If Friday night’s offensive explosion was the push the Yankees needed to pull themselves out of their June slump, then Saturday afternoon in Toronto was the solution.
The Yankees fell right back into their lifeless form with a 9-1 loss to the Blue Jays and put in a weak performance overall.
Left-hander Nestor Cortes took the loss after allowing three earned runs early in the game, another subpar performance by a Yankees starting pitcher this month.
The bullpen fell apart in the middle innings. Right-hander Phil Bickford allowed five runs in the sixth inning, three of which came on a bases-clearing double by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. when left-hander Caleb Ferguson was on the mound with two outs.
Even closer was Clay Holmes, who suffered a run in injury time and continued to struggle. The bullpen is a glaring problem for this club, something that needs to be addressed before the transfer deadline next month.
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Restoring glory
To make matters worse, superstar outfielder Juan Soto was removed from the starting lineup shortly before first pitch. He had to undergo imaging of his right hand after suffering a bruise while sliding into home plate in the fourth inning on Friday night.
With Soto out, the Yankees’ offense was absent… except for their superstar hitter Aaron Judge.
Judge scored the Yankees’ first run with an RBI single in the fifth inning, one of two hits that night and his 80th RBI of the season (tying him for the MLB lead).
The rest of the lineup had six hits and was 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position. Catcher Austin Wells hit a home run with no one out at the top of the ninth inning – a two-run shot to right – but by that point it was too little, too late.
The Yankees even ran out of opportunities to score points.
First baseman Ben Rice, who was batting second base on Saturday when Soto retired, was caught stealing third base with two men out in the first inning. It was the fourth game in the Yankees’ last five games in which the offense put two or more runners on the field in the opening inch and failed to capitalize.
Then, in the sixth, Gleyber Torres was gunned down at second base by Blue Jays backstop Alejandro Kirk on a strike ’em out, throw ’em out double play. Torres walked for a full count while Wells watched and was struck out.
If the Yankees fail in the series finale against the Jays on Sunday, it would be their fifth consecutive series loss.
LOOKING AHEAD
Sunday: Yankees at Blue Jays, 1:37 p.m., YES/MLB Network. RHP Gerrit Cole (0-1, 9.00) vs. RHP Kevin Gausman (6-6, 4.26)
Monday: Out of
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Max Goodman can be reached at [email protected].
