Yankees pour it on late to win game, series over Blue Jays

You don’t need a copy of the Dickson Baseball Dictionary to define the dog days of August, you just had to watch today’s contest between the Blue Jays and Yankees. Like every game since the start of summer, it was a slog, but this one was a particular slog for the first two-thirds, with the Yankee starter living on corners he couldn’t spot, key errors blowing up pitch counts, and George Springer and Ernie Clement tormenting us for (hopefully) the final time this year. At least the Yankees came out on the right side of this game, and this series, with Ben Rice delivering the big hit in the sixth and Jazz Chisholm Jr. adding insurance to lock up an 8-3 win.

This was a game designed to aggravate me, personally, with Carlos Rodón on the bump. Win lose or draw I’ve never found Rodón to be a pleasant viewing experience, with him clodding around the mound and getting into 2-2 counts seemingly every hitter. He threw 76 pitches today, 10 more than his return start against the Orioles, 41 of them were four-seamers, and look at his lack of command:Look particularly up above the zone armside, and down and in gloveside. These are easy takes for MLB hitters, especially a lineup like Toronto’s that doesn’t swing and miss much. Sure enough, Carlos walked two against two strikeouts, a predictable line when you rely so much on a fastball that you can’t control.

He only surrendered one earned run, with the second man scoring after a huge George Lombard Jr. error. In the fourth inning, after getting Alejandro Kirk to open the frame, Rodón gave up a double to Springer, and walked Kazuma Okamoto to put two men aboard. Lombard then flubbed a ground ball hit right at him:

As YES viewers, we know you can’t assume the double play, but there were two outs available on that ground ball, and Lombard got none. It was his third straight game with an error, and it forced Carlos to throw another dozen pitches in the frame. The Jays only got one run — Daz Cameron’s sac fly brought Springer in — but the cost to the starter had to be borne as well.

Spencer Jones continues his strong play of late, opening the scoring in the second inning with a double to bring Lombard in. Jones himself scored two batters later, with Austin Wells taking his place at second and making it 2-0 early. It looked like the Yankees might put the game away early, but they wouldn’t threaten again until the sixth.

Loading the bases with nobody out, the club squandered two chances to break the 2-2 tie. Wells struck out, José Caballero did get a ball in the air, but not deep enough to bring in a run. Trent Grisham did manage to work a walk to make the game 3-2, but it felt like we were about to walk away without much to show for it. Thankfully Benny Barrels had a sterling AB and dropped a ball into right field for two runs: