Yankees catcher Austin Wells tags out Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette at home plate during the sixth inning at Yankee Stadium on Saturday.John Jones/Reuters
The New York Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays 3-1 at Yankee Stadium on Saturday in a game that was disrupted for nearly two hours due to rain and included a some injury scares for Jays players.
Bo Bichette was able to stay in the game after a concerning collision at home plate in the sixth inning, and Alejandro Kirk was okay after taking a ball off his batting helmet in the ninth inning.
The Blue Jays (82-60) and Yankees (79-63) now each have one win in this three-game weekend set. The Jays lead the American League East, now ahead of the Yankees by three games.
Chris Bassitt allowed three hits and two runs in five innings pitched for the Jays Saturday, with three walks and three strikeouts in the loss. Toronto matched the Yankees with five hits but struggled to get runners home.
“I think yesterday, we generated a little bit more traffic. Today the opportunities were a little bit less and we didn’t get the big hit,” said Jays manager John Schneider.
The Jays had started the three-game series in New York beautifully on Friday night, trouncing the Yankees 7-1 behind an eight-inning performance from Kevin Gausman. They’d won seven of their most recent eight meetings with the Yankees coming into Saturday.
But it was New York who came out scoring on Saturday, before a packed crowd. In a two-run second inning, Jasson Dominguez cracked an RBI single to center field to bring Cody Bellinger home, and Austin Wells hit a sacrifice fly to score Jazz Chisholm.
The lone Jays run came in the fourth inning when Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit a ground ball that brought Bichette home.
Sunny skies turned cloudy, and rain started to fall as the sixth inning arrived.
In the last play before officials called the rain delay mid-way through the sixth inning, Nathan Lukes singled onto the outfield grass, and New York’s Cody Bellinger fired the ball home to catcher Austin Wells at home plate to stop Bichette from scoring. Bichette slid in shins first and collided hard with Wells, clenched his left leg in pain, then limped off to the dugout.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa helps Bichette off the field after the Jays star collided with Yankees catcher Wells.Adam Hunger/The Associated Press
Bichette’s shin got cut while crashing into Wells’ shin pad. The rain delay provided time for Bichette to get x-rays, which were negative. But there was lots of blood. Trainers were able to fix him up. If not for that delay, the Jays may have needed to take him out of the game to check him out.
“My gut reaction, because of how important Bo is to our team, if it wasn’t a rain delay, I’m probably taking him out just to be sure,” said Schneider. “I think it bought him some time for sure, and allowed him to settle down a little bit, get the test he needed to get done and keep going.”
But once the rain stopped and the game resumed one hour and 46 minutes later, the Jays hard-slugging star shortstop was still in the game, running and playing the infield for Toronto.
“He felt good enough to run, to hit,” said Schneider. “We’re at the point though, where if you can play, you can play. Bo understands that. Everyone understands that.”
Toronto trailed New York 2-1 when the game started back up.
The Yankees wasted no time adding another run as the Jays turned to their bullpen. Reliever Louis Varland allowed a walk and two hits to fill the bases. Brendon Little replaced Varland but Wells hit a sacrifice fly to score Dominguez.
Kirk was the last batter in the ninth inning and took a foul ball off his batting helmet. Schneider said his catcher cut his ear and he had some blood on it but Kirk was okay.
The series concludes Sunday afternoon with Max Scherzer scheduled to start for Toronto.