r/NYYankees

After a two-hour and 11-minute rain delay, the Blue Jays took down the Yankees 2-1 in a pitchers' duel. Cam Schlittler took the mound for the Yankees and faced off against Trey Yesavage. 

Schlittler faced the minimum in the top half of the first inning thanks to a 4-6-3 double play and recorded his first strikeout of the night.

Ben Rice, Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger went three up, three down in the bottom half of the inning. 

In the top of the second, Schlittler worked a 1-2-3 inning with some help from a great running catch in left field by Belli.

Schlittler struck out the side in the top half of the fourth inning, putting his punchout total up to six for the ballgame. 

Schlittler surrendered a couple of singles in the top half of the fifth inning to put runners at the corners with two outs, then induced a flyout to work into and out of trouble. 

In the bottom half of the inning, Spencer Jones pinch-hit for Trent Grisham, who looked like he was running gingerly on a double earlier in the ballgame. Jones, Ryan McMahon and Anthony Volpe went down in order. 

“For him to come out of the game definitely raises your eyebrows,” Aaron Boone said of Grisham. 

Schlittler navigated around a one-out double in the top of the sixth inning, picking up his seventh strikeout and a flyout to strand a runner at second. 

Schlittler allowed a leadoff single in the seventh inning, then walked a batter and surrendered a bunt single to load the bases with nobody out. Schlittler walked Andrés Giménez after an 11-pitch battle to bring across a run and end his night. Jake Bird replaced him with the bases loaded and nobody out and allowed a sacrifice fly to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., making it 2-0. 

“It's just unacceptable, just walked two guys,” Schlittler said. “They're a team that's gonna BABIP the s--t out of you. Some unlucky stuff, but can't walk the bottom of the order.”

Final line for Schlittler: Six innings pitched, eight hits allowed, two earned runs, walked two, and struck out seven on 106 pitches. He threw his fastball 51% of the time, the cutter 33%, the sinker 10%, the curveball 5%, and the slider 1%. Schlittler topped out at 99.9 mph and sat 98.1 on his heater, while inducing 16 whiffs tonight. 

“It was a good battle there,” Schlittler said of the pitchers' duel. “Slipped away from me there at the end. I like the fight we had in the last inning. I thought it was a great rally. If I get out of that inning, probably a different outcome of that game.”

Jazz Chisholm Jr. dunked a one-out bloop single into center field in the bottom of the seventh. Paul Goldschmidt followed with a bloop single of his own to right-center field. However, Amed Rosario, who pinch hit for Jones, flew out to right, allowing Jazz to move up to third, and Ryan McMahon grounded out, stranding runners at the corners. 

Yovanny Cruz took over for Bird in the top of the eighth to make his Major League debut and retired the Blue Jays in order with a pair of strikeouts. 

Volpe, Austin Wells and Rice went down in order in the bottom half of the eighth inning. Volpe wasted the Yankees final challenge of the game on a pitch nearly right down the middle in the process. 

Cruz came back out for the top of the ninth and worked another 1-2-3 inning with his third strikeout. 

In the bottom of the ninth, Belli lined a one-out double to left, bringing the tying run to the plate.  Jazz reached on an infield single to put the tying run on first and the winning run at the plate. Goldy grounded out to make it a one-run ballgame and move the tying run up to second base. However, Rosario struck out on a pitch well above the zone to end the ballgame. 

The Yankees will look to win the series tomorrow with Carlos Rodon on the mound; the Blue Jays starter is still TBD. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. ET on the YES Network. 

My thoughts on the game: Unfortunate loss for the Yankees, and the worst part is the Rays won again. They just dont lose now, leading in the AL East by four games. Schlittler was awesome tonight yet again; his ERA went up to 1.50 after six dominant innings, allowing just two runs, which is just a testament to how good he has been this year. Bird did a great job of limiting the damage coming into a bases-loaded, nobody-out jam. Cruz looked unhittable in his MLB debut tonight; the Yankees better not send him back down. His slider was nasty, and he averaged 99.8 mph on his fastball. Jazz has a great game with three hits accounting for half of the Yankees' hits tonight. The Yankees' offense just got shut down by Yesavage. It was a brutal night for Aaron Judge, striking out four times, the dreaded golden sombrero. He has been in a little slump this last week and a half. Grisham left the game with left knee discomfort; hopefully, he is okay. On to tomorrow, as the Yankees have an opportunity to win the series, they need a big start from Rodon.