Yankees vs. Blue Jays ALDS Game 1 takeaways
Three takeaways from the Yankees’ 10-1 loss to the Blue Jays in Game 1 of the ALDS:
1. The opener meant a lot more to the Blue Jays than it did to the Yankees
Just as in the Wild Card Series, the Yankees’ opponent needed to win Game 1 more than the Yankees did.
In the last series, Boston won Game 1 behind ace Garrett Crochet but lost the series in three because the Yankees had the better starting pitchers going in the later games.
The same could be said to be true in the ALDS. Toronto won behind its ace, Kevin Gausman, but has rookie Trey Yesavage, Shane Bieber and probably a bullpen game for the next three.
The Yankees have their ace, Max Fried, then Carlos Rodon, and then Wild Card Series Game 3 hero Cam Schlittler.
On paper, the Yankees can overcome losing the opener.
2. Boone’s aggressive move with Gil paid off . . . until it didn’t
Luis Gil gave up solo homers to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the first and Alejandro Kirk in the second but seemed to find his way — and his secondary stuff — in a nine-pitch at-bat against Anthony Santander for the first out of the second that ended with a strikeout on 3-and-2.
From there, Gil retired the next four batters before allowing a single to Guerrero. No biggie, right? But Aaron Boone went to Tim Hill, and Hill and Camilo Doval pitched scoreless ball for the next 3 1/3 innings.
Basically, Boone decided Gil was a starter in name only. It was going to be a bullpen game. The problem is when you use a bunch of relievers, there’s an increased chance that you’re going to find the one who doesn’t have it that day.
In this case, with the Yankees trailing 2-1 in the seventh inning, Boone found two relievers who didn’t have it in Luke Weaver and Fernando Cruz.
Weaver had an ugly repeat of his outing in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series: three batters faced, zero retired. It might be the last time we see him this postseason.
Cruz, who has been money when it comes to not allowing inherited runners to score, allowed both of Weaver’s runners and one of his own to score. By the time Paul Blackburn got the final out of the inning, the Yankees were down 6-1. Blackburn allowed four runs in the eighth.
3. This is why the Yankees paid $218 million for Fried
A postseason series can turn on a dime. Or 2.18 billion dimes, which is how many there are in $218 million.
While there likely is panic in the streets after the Yankees dropped the opener, Fried will not bring that emotion to the mound on Sunday at Rogers Centre.
Fried is as cool as a cucumber. He knew he had to match Crochet in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series, and he threw 6 1/3 scoreless innings, leaving with a 1-0 lead in what you might have heard was a controversial decision by Boone to bring in Weaver.
Fried will be facing a 22-year-old with three big-league starts in Yesavage. Unless Yesavage pulls a Schlittler, the Yankees have no one to blame but themselves if they don’t bring the best-of-five series back to the Bronx tied at 1.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
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