The Yankees showed up in Toronto for a series that turned into a full-blown circus, and Trent Grisham's bat was the one thing going right early on. He gave New York a 1-0 lead with a leadoff homer in the sixth inning of the series opener, a no-doubter that had the broadcast flashing 359 feet, 100.3 mph off the bat.
Outside of the first at bat of the game Trent is cooking https://t.co/PiXblFDMpl
It wasn't enough. Toronto answered with two runs later that same sixth inning and tacked on an insurance run in the eighth to win the opener 3-1, and things got ugly for the Yankees before it was even over. Aaron Boone got tossed in the top of that sixth after arguing a low strike call against Luis Garcia Jr., with home plate umpire Vic Carapazza baiting him into it by asking him to repeat what he'd muttered from the dugout.
Umpire was really baiting Aaron Boone into this ejection tonight, seems like he was looking to throw someone out. “WHAT’D YA SAY?” https://t.co/9uTy6tK2qv
Boone later admitted he told the ump "we can't challenge everything" -- not exactly fireworks, but it was enough. It was his 4th ejection of the season and the 50th of his managerial career, a milestone nobody wants but one that fits a Yankees season that's felt like a slow bleed. New York dropped the second game of the series too, 4-1, and Barstool's baseball guys were openly venting about a lineup that can't push runs across even when the Rays are losing games right alongside them.
That’s strikeout #200 on the season for Dylan Cease! What a season for him https://t.co/baTbi4hy95
That strikeout came off Cease, the ace Toronto handed a 7-year, $210 million deal last December, the largest free-agent contract in Blue Jays history. He's been every bit the ace they paid for, leading the AL in strikeouts, and watching him overpower Grisham to reach 200 K's on the year was a reminder of exactly what the Yankees have been up against in this series. It's the kind of arm that makes a lineup slump look even worse than it already is.
But the finale flipped the script. With the Yankees clawing for any kind of spark, Jose Caballero delivered one, turning heads with a defensive and baserunning sequence that put New York in front in the 7th.
Wild play here as Cabby gives the Yankees the lead! https://t.co/FeexlMiOwn
New York needed extras to close it out, eventually winning 4-2 in 10 innings to salvage a game after dropping the first two, but the vibes around the club were still shaky. Fans were split between marveling at George Lombard Jr.'s instincts in the field and calling out veterans who can't match a 21-year-old's poise, while a violent third-base collision earlier in the series -- ball loose, bodies colliding, umpire scrambling -- summed up just how chaotic this set got. Grisham's power and Caballero's heads-up baseball were the bright spots in a series that otherwise felt like the Yankees were just trying to survive it.