Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – Vladimir Guerrero Jr. belted a grand slam and Daulton Varsho homered twice as the Toronto Blue Jays pounded the New York Yankees 13-7 on Sunday to take a 2-0 lead in their Major League Baseball playoff series. Guerrero smashed the first grand slam in Blue Jays playoff history to electrify the crowd at Toronto’s Rogers Centre. Fans were treated to five home runs from the hosts — who are one win away from victory in the best-of-five American League division series.
Toronto rookie hurler Trey Yesavage — making just his fourth MLB start — held the mighty Yankees lineup without a hit over five and one-third innings, striking out 11 with just one walk. “When I was out there, I could feel the energy of the crowd,” the 22-year-old Yesavage said. “I just knew something was gonna happen. I didn’t know it was gonna be all that.”
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Guerrero’s fourth-inning blast to right field was followed by Varsho’s 407-foot, two-run homer to right center that pushed Toronto’s lead to 11-0. The Jays had hammered Yankees starting pitcher Max Fried through three innings, piling up eight hits on the way to a 5-0 lead. That included a two-run homer in the second inning by Ernie Clement, who also singled in a run in the third. George Springer added a solo homer in the fifth that made it 12-0.
Aaron Judge got New York’s first hit of the game with a single off reliever Justin Bruihl, and Cody Bellinger followed with a home run that finally put the Yankees on the board in the top of the sixth. Varsho answered with his second homer in the bottom of the frame.
The Yankees clawed out five runs in the seventh, loading the bases with one out. Judge singled in a run, Bellinger plated a run with a sacrifice fly, Ben Rice drove in a run with a double, and Giancarlo Stanton’s single scored two runs before Toronto reliever Mason Fluharty finally ended the inning. That was the end of the fightback as Louis Varland and Seranthony Dominguez combined to retire six of the last eight Yankees batters.
The Yankees, who like the Blue Jays won 94 games this season but were edged out for the AL East division title on the tiebreaker, will now be fighting to stay alive when they host game three on Tuesday. The winner of the series will face either the Seattle Mariners or Detroit Tigers in the American League Championship Series. The Mariners were aiming to bounce back on Sunday after the Tigers won a nailbiting game one 3-2 in the 11th inning.
© 2024 AFP
