If Saturday’s series opener was a bad dream for the Yankees, then Sunday’s game two debacle was a flat-out nightmare.
New York was thoroughly embarrassed from beginning to end, falling behind 12-0 and eventually losing 13-7 as the seemingly unstoppable Blue Jays moved to the brink of advancing to the ALCS.
The Yanks had the clear edge in Sunday’s starting pitching matchup, at least on paper, and Toronto rookie Trey Yesavage quickly squashed that pregame narrative. One-upping Cam Schlittler’s dominant performance in game three of the Yankees’ clinching Wild Card Series win on Thursday, Yesavage was unhittable - literally - from the first pitch, tossing 5 1/3 innings without allowing a run or a hit. He also struck out 11 batters in the process, a playoff record for the Blue Jays.
The Bombers looked feeble at best against Yesavage’s lethal splitter, the second straight game they struggled against that pitch, as Kevin Gausman gave them problems on Saturday as well. But Yesavage’s efficiency was on another level, allowing just two baserunners all game, one on a walk to Aaron Judge and another on an error by Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
Meanwhile, Max Fried took a major step back from his sparkling Yankee playoff debut, allowing seven runs on eight hit while failing to record an out in the fourth inning. Even when the bottom of the order in Myles Straw tried to give Fried an out in the form of a sac bunt, Fried surrendered a walk, highlighting his inability to locate for the majority of the evening.
The Blue Jays started their scoring in the second when Ernie Clement lifted a hanging curveball over the left field fence for a two-run home run, and Daulton Varsho began what was a monster day at the plate with a double down the right field line in the fourth to extend the lead to 4-0.
Fried allowed more traffic in the fourth before he was pulled for Will Warren, a starter for most of the season now tasked with coming on in the middle of the inning with runners on base. The adjustment did not go well, as Warren served up a grand slam to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to break the game wide open and make it 9-0.
Toronto continued to tee off on Warren while the Yankee bats couldn’t touch Yesavage, who was pulled with a no-hitter in the sixth despite having thrown just 78 pitches. The Yanks were clearly relieved, as Cody Bellinger clubbed a two-run home run to end the embarrassing shutout, and then New York went to work on a revolving door of Blue Jays relievers in the seventh, plating five runs highlighted by a Judge single and doubles from Ben Rice and Giancarlo Stanton, making it a 13-7 game.
It was too little too late, and led to a second guess on the Warren decision, as the righty clearly was not himself entering the middle of an inning, serving up four home runs to make the deficit all but insurmountable.
The Yanks season will be on the line Tuesday night back in the Bronx, where it was also on the brink of extinction on Wednesday and Thursday night. Carlos Rodon will be tasked with trying to keep hope alive in a must-win game three.
Taking three straight from the Blue Jays and this potent lineup is certainly a tall order, though New York has experience in that department, erasing a 2-0 series deficit against Cleveland in the 2017 ALDS after dropping the first two on the road.