Open Now
Open Now
Watch now

Yankees snap skid with comeback win over Blue Jays

The Yankees snapped a three-game losing streak by overcoming a three-run deficit to beat the Blue Jays.

BUFFALO — The Yankees have said they have more than three months to get on track and save their season.

Maybe Tuesday was a first step.

The Yankees snapped a three-game losing streak by overcoming a three-run deficit to beat the Blue Jays, 6-5, in front of a pro-Yankee crowd of 7,145 at Sahlen Field.

Gary Sanchez, Chris Gittens and Brett Gardner hit solo homers to help the Yankees get back in the game, and they tied it when DJ LeMahieu scored on a wild pitch in the seventh.

Clint Frazier’s pinch-hit double in the eighth drove in Tyler Wade to give the Yankees their first lead.

Zack Britton, in his second appearance of the season after spring training elbow surgery, loaded the bases with two outs in the eighth before getting Bo Bichette to fly to right on a 3-2 pitch to get out of the inning.

And Aroldis Chapman, who had taken the loss in each of his previous two appearances, got the save with a scoreless ninth — using his splitter effectively.

Chris Gittens hit his first career homer against the Blue Jays on Tuesday.
Getty Images

Afterwards, manager Aaron Boone, who received a vote of confidence from general manager Brian Cashman earlier in the day, said his team had to “fight our way back into things.’’

They did that Tuesday, though they are still searching for an identity.

“We haven’t pegged it yet,” Boone said. “I hope over time we establish who we are on offense and as a pitching staff as a whole. We’ve dug ourselves a little hole, certainly, [but] we’re also in control of that story.’’

After starter Jordan Montgomery allowed five runs (four earned) in 5 ¹/₃ innings, the Yankees began their comeback in the sixth with an RBI groundout from Miguel Andujar.

They tied it in the seventh with a leadoff homer by Gardner and the wild pitch that allowed LeMahieu to score.

Andujar led off the eighth with a single and Wade ran for him. Wade stole second and Gittens whiffed before the Yankees turned to Frazier to hit for Gardner — after going with Gardner in center and Andujar in left over Frazier against the Blue Jays’ lefty starter, Hyun Jin Ryu.

Boone said he wanted Gardner’s defense in center.

The Blue Jays brought in right-hander Jordan Romano and Frazier ripped an RBI double to left to give the Yankees their first lead.

Frazier said he was sitting on a fastball. The strategy worked, providing the Yankees with a much-needed victory.

“A lot of people are talking [and] bombarding us from the outside,’’ Frazier said of the questions being asked about the Yankees, who would have fallen back to .500 with a loss. “The most important thing we’ve done as a team is stick together.’’

They found themselves down after Montgomery walked the first three batters he faced and allowed five runs, but he at least lasted into the sixth inning, after Jameson Taillon and Domingo German made it through just 4 ²/₃ innings combined over the weekend.

With the Yankees trailing 2-1 in the fourth, Gittens hit his first MLB homer, a two-out solo shot to left-center that tied the score.

But Montgomery got into further trouble in the fourth and gave up three more runs, the last two on a single by Bichette to make it 5-2.

The Yankees scratched out a run in the sixth. Sanchez doubled Gio Urshela to third. Urshela scored on a groundout by Andujar to cut the deficit to two.

Gardner opened the seventh by greeting right-hander Anthony Castro with a leadoff homer to make it a one-run game. LeMahieu followed with a double and moved to third on a wild pitch before scoring on another wild pitch.

Luis Cessa, Jonathan Loaisiga, Britton and Chapman tossed 3 ²/₃ scoreless innings of relief to allow for the comeback.

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Dan Martin

Follow us on Google News

Filed under