Opening Day Recap: Blue Jays win clash against Yankees, 6-1
Game notes and grades as Toronto takes down New York 6-1
Baseball is back! After the Opening Night clash between the Cardinals and the Cubs Sunday, the season began in earnest Monday, kicking off with the Blue Jays visiting the Yankees.
Drew Hutchison was the surprise Opening Day starter for Toronto, getting the nod over the more experienced R.A. Dickey and Mark Buehrle, but he rose to the challenge, looking every bit like an Opening Day starter in shutting down the Yankees’ lineup, some first pitch jitters aside.
Masahiro Tanaka was the Yankees’ starter, and he was a bit up and down, shying away from his fastball and relying heavily on off-speed pitches, with the Blue Jays hitters often took advantage of. On some occasions, he looked extremely hittable; on others, he looked lights-out. It’s tough to tell what we’ll be getting from Tanaka this year.
And, of course, this game marked the return of the Notorious A.R.O.D., also known as Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod came out to a surprisingly warm welcome from the Yankees faithful, and lined a base hit to the outfield in his first at-bat.
Other than a solo home run from Brett Gardner, the Yankees were largely unable to get to Hutchison, while the Blue Jays rode a combination of strong hitting and pitching to the victory.
Game Notes:
- It was the Yankees’ sixth loss in the past seven Opening Day games.
- For the first time since becoming a Yankee, CC Sabathia watched his team’s first game from the dugout rather than pitching from the mound. Masahiro Tanaka got the nod this year, which is understandable both if you saw him pitch last year and if you saw Sabathia, who really didn’t look like his old self.
- Surprisingly enough, the attendance at Yankee Stadium fell short of a sellout crowd. Considering that Opening Day is the one day a year most teams are sure of a sellout (the Indians, last in attendance in 2014, sold out their home opener in seven minutes), this is a surprise, and speaks to how hard it is to fill those expensive seats at the new Yankee Stadium.
- The Blue Jays had several players making their major league debuts, including second baseman Devon Travis, who hit his first career home run, and 20-year-old reliever Miguel Castro, who looked electric closing out the game.
Grades: