Yankees Recap: Blue Jays Snap Win Streak at Six

The Yankees winning streak came to a grinding halt against the Blue Jays as they fell 8-4 against their division rivals Wednesday night. Even with Toronto floundering in last place in the AL East, they continue to have New York’s number. They have a 16-8 record against the Yankees since the start of the 2015 season. Most of the pieces remain in place from last year’s juggernaut, and they remain a very dangerous team no matter where they are in the standings.

On the bright side, Ivan Nova continued to make the most of his opportunity in the rotation, turning in his fourth consecutive solid start. In his 23 innings as a starter in 2016, he has pitched to a 2.74 ERA, struck out 6.26 K/9, and allowed just 1.57 BB/9. His performance Wednesday was much stronger than his line would indicate, as his night was ruined by a few pitches left up in the zone. Ryan Goins ripped a two RBI double to give the Blue Jays a 2-1 lead in the fourth, and Russell Martin padded it with his first home run of the year, a solo shot in the sixth.

The struggling Chasen Shreve came in to replace Nova with two outs in the seventh after Ivan plunked Edwin Encarnacion. He promptly allowed a two run homer to Michael Saunders, a double to Justin Smoak, and another two run shot to Russell Martin, extinguishing any hope of a comeback. Shreve has now allowed seven home runs in 19 innings of work this season, raising his ERA to 5.21. He made the team out of spring training this year on the strength of his strong first half in 2015, but those memories are fading fast. Shreve can no longer be trusted in close games like this, and a demotion to Triple-A can’t be too far off.

Back to back home runs by Chase Headley and Didi Gregorius in the bottom of the seventh cut the Blue Jay’s lead to 7-3, but it was too little, too late. Nick Goody surrendered another run in the eighth, and Austin Romine added one more for the good guys with his first long-ball of the season, leading to a final score of 8-4 for Toronto.

Notes:

• The top five hitters in the Yankee lineup were a combined 0-21 on the night.
• Mark Teixeira is expected to miss at least the next several games with neck spasms. He went for an MRI which revealed no serious issues. Losing Tex and his 62 wRC+ isn’t a huge blow to the lineup at the moment. Hopefully, a few days to rest and clear his head will allow him to come back fresh.
• Alex Rodriguez is expected to be activated from the DL Thursday and rejoin the lineup in the series finale against the Blue Jays.

The rubber game of the three game series will be at 4:05 pm ET at Yankee Stadium, with CC Sabathia squaring off against Toronto’s J.A. Happ.

Here are the manager’s thoughts on the night’s loss: