For a few hours Thursday afternoon, Yankee Stadium sounded like the Rogers Centre — or TD Ballpark in Dunedin, Fla., or Sahlen Field in Buffalo.
The Blue Jays have been vagabonds since 2020 due to the pandemic, but they made themselves right at home in Game 1 of a doubleheader in The Bronx.
A small crowd for the early game consisted of a rowdy cheering section for Blue Jays right-hander Alek Manoah, who made his MLB debut and dominated the Yankees, handing them a 2-0 loss.
“You gotta tip your cap,” manager Aaron Boone said before Game 2. “He pitched well and beat us today. We gotta pick ourselves up here and find a way to punch through.”
Miguel Andujar mustered the Yankees’ only two hits off Manoah, both singles, as the 23-year-old pitcher struck out seven across six shutout innings. He also walked two batters, but did not allow a runner to reach second base.
Domingo German nearly matched Manoah, but the two of the three hits he gave up in 5 ²/₃ innings were much costlier — back-to-back home runs by Marcus Semien and Bo Bichette in the third inning.
Aaron Judge and the Yankees managed just two hits in Game 1 against the Blue Jays. N.Y. Post: Charles Wenzelberg“This was a short game, seven innings, so you give up the lead like that, it’s definitely not what you want,” German said through an interpreter. “I was trying to locate those pitches and they were able to make good contact.”
That was all the offense the Blue Jays (25-23) needed with Manoah on the mound. Jordan Romano closed out the shutout in the seventh inning to hand the Yankees (28-21) their second straight loss after winning six straight.
The silent bats ensured a series loss for the Yankees — their first since being swept by the Rays on April 16-18. In between, they had won eight series and tied two more, which had vaulted them up the standings in the AL East.
While the Yankees’ starting pitching has keyed that turnaround, their offense has struggled to consistently produce. Thursday’s Game 1 marked only the second time they have been shut out this season, but entering the nightcap they were averaging just 3.9 runs per game this season.
The Blue Jays called up Manoah before Thursday’s doubleheader, but he wasn’t completely unfamiliar to the Yankees. The 6-foot-6, 260-pound first-round pick had faced the Yankees twice in spring training this year and tossed a combined five shutout innings with 11 strikeouts and one hit. At one point in the second game he struck out seven straight Yankees.
Thursday he flashed more of the same, combining a fastball that reached 97 mph with a changeup and slider that kept the Yankees off-balance.
“His fastball played up a little bit,” Boone said. “Looked like he moved it around, mixed in his secondary [pitches] well. In the middle innings there, [for] both sides [it was] a little bit challenging as the shadows rolled in. But he was in control the entire game. Four-pitch walk to start the game but then he got his command in line and had three pitches going for him. We just didn’t mount much.”
That created no margin of error for German, who was left wanting two pitches back but was otherwise solid, allowing two earned runs or fewer for the sixth time in his last seven starts.
“You take away those two pitches, for me it was a good outing,” German said. “I was able to hold the game there. But at the end of the day, they were able to get ahead early in the game and in a short game, it’s not what you want. Credit to them.”
