Yankees @ Blue Jays – Summary of 3-game set at Rogers Centre

As Romano and Swanson struggle in 9th, Green and Garcia say, “We got it!”

JAYS 6-3 ON FIRST HOMESTAND AT RENOVATED ROGERS CENTRE

The differences are subtle, but the lower bowl renovations at the Rogers Centre, given the significant reduction in foul territory, seem to favour the offences, judging by the clues offered up in the Blue Jays first homestand of the ’24 season.

“I think the one thing that stands out, maybe, is some foul popups that got out of play,” said MGR John Schneider in describing differences that he has noticed. “It’s kind of what we expected, really. (It played) very similar to last year. The biggest thing is how nice it looks and everything we have in our clubhouse. It played pretty straight up.”

Further to Schneider’s comments, there were an unofficial estimate of 22 foul balls in the nine game homestand that fell into the seats or bounced off the netting, either in the reduced real estate behind the plate, the less ground beyond first and third base or down the lines in the slivers of foul territory in the outfield. That’s 22 possible outs that would have been made a year ago where hitters were given a second chance in 2024. Subtle, but significant.    

It’s early to judge, but for the entirety of ’23, the Jays actually had a better record on the road than at home – 43-38 at Rogers Centre and 46-35 in away games. This season, due to completing the renovations, the Jays opened on the road with their longest road trip of the year, going 4-6 at St. Petersburg, Houston and the Bronx. On the first homestand, they won two of three decisions in three straight series vs. the M’s, Rockies and Yankees.    

THE BULLPEN ALREADY LOCKDOWN THEN WENT AHEAD AND ADDED ROMANO AND SWANSON

The season is a marathon, as we are always reminded, so the Blue Jays certainly felt in the long-term, for the good of the team, that they needed to activate two of the key members of their bullpen, RH Jordan Romano and RH Eric Swanson, despite the fact their minor-league rehab appearances at Triple-A were not exactly what had been hoped for.

The Jays’ key bullpen duo was added to the active roster on Tuesday in time for Game 2 of the Yankees series. To create room on the 26-man roster, RH Mitch White was designated for assignment and RH Nate Pearson was optioned to AAA-Buffalo.

In the case of White, if he clears waivers then he can be added, likely, to the Bisons rotation and if the need arises, be promoted back to the major-league club, but then they would need to create a 40-man roster spot. As for Pearson, he was coming off a dominant ninth-inning outing against the Rockies on Sunday, touching 102 m.p.h., in striking out the side. But he has an option, thus he was the easy choice. He will be back at the first opportunity.

On Tuesday, the once-and-future closer, Romano entered with a two-run lead, hit the second batter and allowed a run, ending the game with the tying run at third base. Swanson’s re-entry had come on Wednesday afternoon, with a two-run lead in the ninth, allowing a giant blast to Giancarlo Stanton and two more hits before being relieved by LH Tim Mayza with one out.    

If the MLB season was only a sprint, the Jays’ bullpen moves, at a time when the active relievers had retired 25 consecutive batters from the sixth inning, Saturday, through the end of Monday’s game vs. the Yankees, it might be questioned. But the truth is they will need Romano and Swanson to be right to contend. Both will play significant roles as they find more work.

YANKEES VS. BLUE JAYS SERIES @ ROGERS CENTRE

@RC GAME 1, BLUE JAYS 3 – YANKEES 1   ATT: 30,962   WP-Bassitt LP-Gil

The Yankees opened the scoring in the second inning, on an RBI single by 3B Oswald Cabrera, but the Jays responded with two runs in the bottom of that inning, with what might soon be called “a Blue Jays rally” --  a bases-loaded walk and a run-scoring wild-pitch.

The Jays added the third run of the game in the fourth, on C Alejandro Kirk’s first extra-base hit of the year, a double just inside the third-base line into the corner. He entered the game on a 0-for-14 streak and had two hits and two walks on Monday, with C Danny Jansen activated.  

Emotional RH Chris Bassitt drew the start, managing 6.1 strong, deep-breath, head-shaking, adrenaline-draining (as always) innings for the win. Schneider laughed as he recently described the experience of watching a Bassitt outing was all about. “It’s fun watching him shake himself off as he calls his own pitches (on pitch-com).”   

One positive emerging from the absence of Romano and Swanson, is that it allowed RH Yimi Garcia and RH Chad Green to take centre stage and demonstrate how valuable they can be in a late-inning role. I asked Garcia on Saturday after he struck out the Rox side in the ninth, if he had ever touched 100 m.p.h. in the past. He shook his head and said, “Never.” As for Green, the former Yankee, when healthy, reaches 95 mph at the top of the strike zone, working both sides of the plate, and mixes in a slider at cerebrally appropriate times.   

@ RC GAME 2, BLUE JAYS 5 – YANKEES 4 ATT: 31,175  WP-Kikuchi  LP-Rodon

Combine LH Yusei Kikuchi, with RH Jose Berrios and the Jays have two of the best fielding, most athletic starting pitchers in the game. Manager Schneider has suggested that if he ever had the need for an emergency pinch-runner from his pitching staff, Kikuchi would be his choice.

The 29-year-old’s athleticism showed up in the fifth inning, with LF Alex Verdugo leading off and the Jays nursing a two-run lead. 1B Vlad Guerrero Jr leaped in an attempt to spear a Verdugo liner and deflected the ball behind him. 2B Isiah Kiner-Falefa hustled over with a crab-like shuffle, fielded the ball and made a high throw right over first base that Kikuchi reached up for at the exact time he reached the bag, a step ahead of the runner. How good was that? First, many pitchers would have frozen on the deflection and not left the mound in time while others wouldn’t have been able to handle the throw and also keep a foot on the base.

Kikuchi allowed one run on four hits, with a walk and nine Ks in his six innings, handing it over to the relievers, who turned a 5-1 lead into a one-run victory.

The bottom three in the Jays’ order on Monday scored all five runs, with the biggest blow being a two-run singled to centre by Guerrero Jr in the fourth.

@RC GAME 3, BLUE JAYS  4 – YANKEES 6  ATT: 30,233     WP-Gonzalez LP-Swanson

The Jays had a solid opportunity to sweep the three-game series vs. the Yankees behind RH Kevin Gausman, who worked five innings, allowing just one run in the fifth, on doubles by 3B Oswald Cabrera and RF Juan Soto, exiting the game after 101 pitches with a 2-1 lead.

The Jays opened up a 4-1 lead with six outs to go, before the bullpen surrendered the advantage with a solo homer by Soto in the eighth and a four run rally in the ninth, keyed by a DH Giancarlo Stanton homer vs. Swanson and a CF Aaron Judge two-run double just inside the third-base foul line off LH Tim Mayza. Up to that point it was difficult to say which New York Judge was having a tougher week -- Aaron or Merchan (the guy in the Stormy Daniels case). The ninth inning should have belonged to RH Chad Green, but he had reported a minor shoulder issue before the contest and was unavailable, along with Garcia and Romano. Thus Swanson.  

Leaving on the road trip, LF Daulton Varsho seems to be heating up, slamming two homers in the final Yankees game, including his first against a lefthanded pitcher (Caleb Ferguson) since Sept. 9, 2022. That one was off Rockies LH Austin Gomber for the D’backs in Colorado. Will Varsho ever bunt vs. a lefty again, his long-time go-to when lefty on lefty?

“Yeah, that’s still in the back-pocket,” Varsho smiled. “(This is) just one of those times where, obviously, you feel pretty good and trust what you’re doing.”

How hot is he? Varsho, in the nine games of the homestand, hit four homers, with a .320 average and a 1.210 OPS, with eight runs and eight RBIs.

NOTES:

*ROAD TRIP: The Blue Jays head out on a seven-game, seven-day trip, beginning Friday with three in San Diego, followed by four in Kansas City. They return home on April 26 vs. the Dodgers. For those interested in tracking, Shohei Ohtani will be on a flight from Philly to Pearson International on the evening of April 25.

*GUERRERO JR: In the last eight games, Vlad has smote 14 balls at 100+ mph, including at least one in all eight of the games. He has seven walks and four Ks in the eight games and for the season has 14 bases-on-balls against 15 Ks.