Toronto relief pitcher Aaron Loup got to see his first action in a Bisons uniform this past Sunday and got an inning of work in.
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New York LHP CC Sabathia (3-2, 3.41 ERA) makes his second start since coming off the disabled list when the teams play the series finale Thursday at 4:05 p.m., an unusual start time for a weekday game at Yankee Stadium.
Happ’s lone mistake was a 1-0 fastball to Starlin Castro with two outs in the first inning.
The two runs were more than enough for Happ, who proceeded to shut down the Yankees lineup for the next six innings and turned the game into an old-fashioned pitching duel.
As for the offense as a whole, well, the Blue Jays have spent most of this season with only two or three hitters going at the same time.
Carlos Beltran homered off knuckleballer R.A. Dickey and drove in New York’s first two runs. He didn’t earn any wins, either.
Sabathia was efficient in his seven innings, allowing two unearned runs on just two hits with a walk and seven strikeouts. All of Toronto’s runs came with two outs. Alex Rodriguez returned after missing three weeks with a hamstring injury and went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts as the DH.
Happ was nearly as efficient as Sabathia, allowing just three hits through his seven innings. He pitched three ideal innings before things came apart in the fourth, when he gave up Gonzalez’s homer with the other two coming the following inning.
“CC pitched great, again”, manager Joe Girardi said.
“We want to score runs, we don’t wanna waste performances like that”, Yankees catcher Brian McCann said.
The Blue Jays entered the game ranked 16th in the majors with 4.0 runs per game after leading all clubs last season in runs scored.
Sabathia allowed 2 hits and 1 walk in 7 innings, striking out 7 to tie Chuck Finley for 23th place on the all-time list with 2,610. “We know Alex is a guy that can hit [and] can impact the game with one swing of the bat. I expect he will get better as the year goes on”. Devon Travis hit a grounder to short that Gregorius tried to backhand, but it hit the tip of his glove after hitting the lip of the grass and taking a high hop, landing far in the outfield. The Blue Jays activated 2B Devon Travis from the DL, doing so about a week before he was expected to come back from offseason left shoulder surgery. The slump prompted manager John Gibbons to juggle his lineup in unusual ways, putting power hitter Jose Bautista in the leadoff spot with sluggers Josh Donaldson and Edwin Encarnacion right behind him. Roberto Osuna struck out Beltran and Rodriguez in the ninth for his 10th save of the season.
The Yankees had runners on first and second with one out in the fifth.
Gavin Floyd struck out Castro with a runner on second to end the eighth.
“I’m happy for him that he’s doing so well”, Happ said.
“I just did my best to fight and put it in play, and thankfully it found a hole”, Travis said. I’m only trying to take it pitch-by-pitch, at-bat by at-bat.
“This is baseball”, Girardi said. Teixeira received cortisone shots in multiple places in his neck Thursday, a day after an MRI showed inflammation but no serious damage.
Following their only off day in a stretch of 40 games in 41 days, the Yankees started a three-game series that will be their only time at home over a 20-game span. He left Tuesday’s loss with a sore right quadriceps.
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Yankees: New York opens a 10-game road trip at Tampa Bay on Friday when RHP Masahiro Tanaka (2-0) faces Rays RHP Chris Archer (3-5).
