The New York Yankees, who had a solid 6-1 start on the road, returned to the Bronx to face the Toronto Blue Jays in a weekend series. However, their offense struggled, leaving seven runners on base, as they they suffered a 3-0 shutout.
This marked the first time since 1967 that the team had been shut out during a home opener.
Marcus Stroman shut out the Blue Jays for six innings, but the Yankees couldn't offer much offense in return, resulting in a loss in front of a full but chilly crowd of 47,812 in The Bronx.
Stroman expressed confidence in the team's lineup, downplaying Friday's performance unseen in 57 years.
“They’re going to swing it, they’re going to score runs. We had a hot start on the road and sometimes you just run into games where you’re not as hot,” he said via The New York Post.
Toronto Blue Jays' day
Ernie Clement, who was pinch-hitting for the Blue Jays, broke the tie with a solo home run off Caleb Ferguson to open the seventh inning. The Blue Jays scored two additional runs in the ninth inning against Dennis Santana and Nick Burdi.
Clement, who grew up in Rochester, New York, mentioned, “The Toronto faithful may not like this, but I was the biggest Yankees fan growing up, so I'm glad we could kick their (butt).”
Yimi García (1-0) closed out the sixth inning by getting the final two outs, while Génesis Cabrera retired two batters in his first appearance since serving a three-game suspension for a bench-clearing incident at Tampa Bay last weekend.
Trevor Richards struck out the side in the eighth inning, and Chad Green secured his first save with the Yankees since 2022, as Toronto pitched a six-hitter to start the last leg of an opening 10-game trip.
New York Yankees struggle
The Yankees struggled against the Blue Jays pitching on Friday as Yusei Kikuchi held them in check for 5.1 innings, allowing no runs on four hits and striking out seven batters.
The trio of Juan Soto, Aaron Judge, and Giancarlo Stanton had a rough day at the plate, going hitless and combining for an 0-for-10 performance with five strikeouts.
Stanton left three runners on base with two strikeouts, continuing his tough start to the season at 3-for-24 with 13 strikeouts. Anthony Volpe was caught stealing second base in a separate inning, and Jose Trevino grounded into a double play.
Everything sputtered in a disappointing loss as Yankee Stadium kicked off the season. “Not the end result we wanted, so we really didn’t give them too much to cheer about,” remarked Aaron Judge, who walked twice but went hitless.
“We gotta come back out [Saturday] and get things going against another good pitcher [Kevin Gausman].”
The Yankees aim to bounce back in Game 2 of their series against Toronto on Saturday. Kevin Gausman is set to pitch for the Blue Jays, while Clarke Schmidt will take the mound for the Yankees.
Gausman showed promise in his debut and could present another formidable challenge. The Yankees' offense needs to shake off this loss and come out swinging tomorrow if they hope to split the series.
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