Game 42 Wrap-Up: NYY 5 TOR 0

(Courtesy of the AP)

With the team struggling a bit in their series loss to Seattle, the Toronto Blue Jays were a welcome sight for the Yankees last night.  They'd played well against the Jays in a few series already this season, and even though the Jays had been playing better baseball of late, the Yanks had Hiroki Kuroda on the mound.  In 2 previous starts against Toronto this season, Kuroda was 1-0 and had allowed just 4 ER in 13.1 IP.  Last night he was on top of his game again and turned in his best outing against Toronto this season to get New York back on the winning track.

Game Notes:

- He's been struggling lately, so Brett Gardner made it easy on Robinson Cano by leading off the game with a triple.  Cano plated him with an RBI groundout and the Yanks had a 1-0 lead.

- Kuroda looked like an even more dominant version of himself that had bested Toronto twice this season early.  Through 4 scoreless innings he allowed just 1 hit and 1 walk.

- The Yanks didn't get much off of Mark Buehrle after the 1st, which made the kids getting involved in the second run even better.  David Adams and Austin Romine singled early, and Adams scored on a Jayson Nix sac fly.  Putting the "fun" in fundamentals.

- Adams was back at it again in the bottom of the 7th, leading off the inning with a double to left.  After an Ichiro bunt single, Romine came through with an RBI double and the kids were running the show.

- Don't let the lack of strikeouts fool you, Kuroda was dominating the Toronto lineup.  He allowed just 1 more baseunner in the next 4 innings, working a nasty sinker-splitter-slider combo, and finished after 8 shutout innings.

- Not surprisingly, Ben Francisco did nothing in this game hitting the 5th spot.  Bullpen needed a rest and it was Preston Clairborne who worked around 2 hits to handle a scoreless 9th.


F*ck Yeahs:

- Kuroda: 8 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K.  Is it me or does the start to this season for Kuroda mirror his start to last season?  Rotation's a little banged up, CC's not pitching quite as well as some people think he should, and here's Kuroda sneaky dominating and sneaky leading the staff.

- Adams: 2-4, 1 2B, 2 R, 1 K, 1 LOB.  A part of multiple scoring rallies and another solid day in the field.  Nice little start for young Mr. Adams.

- Romine: 2-3, 1 2B, 1 R, 1 RBI.  Was a part of the same rallies Adams was and did a nice job behind the plate with Kuroda.  Golf clap for you, Mr. Romine.

Oh Nos:

- Cano: 0-4, 1 RBI, 1 K, 5 LOB.  Drove in a run on an out and left a lotta ducks on the pond after.

- Vernon Wells: 0-4, 2 K, 1 LOB.  Normally you notice when Cano and Wells put up a combined 0-fer.  Luckily last night was the exception to that rule.

Next Up:

Game two of this series is this afternoon.  David Phelps gets the start for the Yankees and Brandon Morrow for the Jays.