The hype, the anticipation, and the energy brought by fans- yes real fans- at Yankee Stadium on Opening Day on Thursday(4/1), was infectious, but the Yankees bats weren’t able to record that breakthrough hit in an extra-innings 3-2 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays, among a flurry of opening day action.
The bronx allowed 20%capacity (10k) fans, to attend Yankee stadium, and it was indeed a”Full house”, on hand for game one of 162, of the 2021 season. The afternoon started off great, a Gerrit Cole pitched for the first time in front of the Bronx faithful, and aside from a rough start to the second inning , when he allowed three straight hits, and a run, pitched well through five innings, keeping the Jays at bay with seven strikeouts to his name as well. On the other hand, aside from a two run shot by Gary Sanchez in the fourth, Toronto ace Hyun-Jin Ryu kept the Yankees at bay himself through five, with some nifty plays at shortstop by Bo Bitchette, helping the cause. The game changed in the sixth, when after another Cole strikeout, Teoscar Hernandez unloaded a 437FT bomb to even the score at two, which would be all for the Yankees ace, following a Toronto walk. Fortunately for Cole, he avoided being charged of the loss, as Chad Green entered, and only needed one pitch to stop the threat, inducing a double-play ball, off the bat of Lourdes Gurriel JR
Cole’s counterpart in Ryu, would depart in the bottom half of the sixth, and the Bombers loaded the bases in the seventh with one out for Aaron Judge, but he too folded in the moment, with David Phelps getting him to roll into a double-play to keep the score tied. After some clutch pitching by both bullpens in the eight, the Yankees turned to Darren O Day in the ninth, who pitched a scoreless inning in his team debut, giving the bats a chance to walk it off.
Against Toronto reliever Jordan Romano, Gary Sanchez walked, before being lifted for the speedy Mike Tauchman, who promptly stole second, and third, to put the winning run 90 feet away from home plate. With one out, and men on the corners(Brett Gardner on first for Clint Frazier) DJ Lemaihue had a chance to be the opening day hero, in the first game back In front of fans. However, “Mr Clutch” for the Yankees the last two seasons, failed to live up to his name here, as he swung weakly at a grounder to third base, where Cavan Biggio threw out the aggressive Tauchman at home plate, who was the potential game-winning run. This gave Aaron Judge a chance to redeem himself, after failing to deliver in the big moment earlier, but he went down swinging, and Romano left the rubber all fired up, having just saved his teams Opening Day bacon.
In extra innings, the new rule of an”auto-man on second base”, took effect, and as the last man out, it was Cavan Biggio who took second, and scored when Randal Grichuk whacked Nick Nelson’s first pitch into right field for the go-ahead RBI double, that stood up as the winning knock, with Julien Merryweather striking out the side in the bottom half of the 10th, to seal the Blue Jays victory. The Yankees went 0 for 9 with men in scoring position, struck out 13 times, and left 10 men on base. Big boppers like Stanton, heard the boo-birds early, and went 0 for 5 with three k’s in the contest. For Yankees fans, it provides a flashback to last seasons finale, when they fell 2-1 to the Tampa Bay Rays in game five of the ALDS, and couldn’t hit with men on base, in that one as well, where Cole pitched brilliantly.
Meanwhile, their were other games going on around the league, so let’s take a look at them:
ORIOLES-RED SOX WAS POSTPONED DUE TO RAIN, AND WILL BE MADE UP ON FRIDAY 2:10PM
RAYS 1 MARLINS 0:
GLASSNOW WENT 6 SCORELESS, AND. Austin Meadows WENT DEEP IN THE EIGHTH, TO HELP THE RAYS WIN IN MIAMI.
TIGERS 3 YANKEES 2
MIGUEL CABAREA HIT A TWO RUN-SHOT IN THE SNOW, AS MATHEW BOYD OUT-PITCHED SHANE BIEBER, DESPITE HIM HAVING 12K’S.
WHITE SOX 3 ANGLES 4:
HALOS RALLY FOR THE OPENING DAY WIN, BEHIND A MULTI-HIT GAME BY MIKE TROUT.
DESPITE THE LOSS, ROOKIE YOAN MERCEDES WENT 3 FOR 3 FOR THE CHISOX.
ROYALS 14 RANGERS 10:
BOTH TEMAS TARDED 5 RUN FIRSTS, AND THE FLOODGATES OPENED FROM THERE.
ASTROS 8 A’S 1
Alex Bregman WENT DEEP, FOR A THREE-RUN BOMB, AS THE ASTROS CLOBBEED THE A’S, DESPITE HEARING IT FROM THE OAKLAND FANS, WHO FINALLY HAD A CHNACE TO LET THEIR ANGER OUT FROM THE ASTROS CHEATING-SCANDAL IN 2017, FOUND IN LATE 2019.
MARINERS 8 GIANTS 7
DOWN 6-1, SEATTLE REELED OFF A SIX RUN 8TH, AND USED A WALK-OFF-WALK, FOR A THRILLING 8-7 WIN OVER THE GIANTS.
METS-NATIONALS POSTPONED DUE TO COVID-19 ISSUES IN WASHINGTON
PHILLIES 3 BRAVES 2
THE BRAVES OFFENSE WAS SHUT DOWN BY AARON NOLA, BEFORE PABLO SANDAVOL CRUSHED A 2 RUN HR TO TIE THE GAME. HOWEVER, A JEAN SEGUAR WALK-OFF SINGLE IN THE NINTH LIFTED THE PHILLIES TO VICTORY.
CARDINALS 11 REDS 6
DYLAN CARLSON CRUSHED A 3RUNHR TO CAP OFF A SIX RUN FIRST INNING OFF REDS ACE LUIS CASTIILO, AND THE ROUT WAS ON IN CINCY.
BREWERS 6 TWINS 5
MIWAUKLEE WAS DOWN 5-2 IN THE NINTH, BUT A THREE RUN HR FROM TRAVIS SHAW OFF ALEX CLOME, A DOMINAT PERFORMANCE FROM JONATHAN HADER,AND A LORENZO CAIN WALK-OFF KNOCK IN EXTRAS LIFTED THE BREW CREW TO A WIN.
PIRATES 5 CUBS 3
KEBRYAN HAYES GOES DEEP, AS BUCS ROLL.
ROCKIES 8 DODGERS 5
COLORADO ROUPHS UP KERSHAW, WINS GAME ONE.
PADRES 8 D BACKS 7
PADS RALLY FOR WIN, AFTER POOR DEBUT FROM YU DARVISH
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