Those thousands of New York Yankees fans in the region will get the rare chance to see their Bronx Bombers play on Western New York turf, starting Monday night at Sahlen Field – but only on television.
The downtown ballpark will be the site of a three-game series between the Yanks and Toronto Blue Jays that are part of a series of games that may decide the postseason eligibility of both teams. The Yankees and Jays are scheduled to meet 10 times in the next three weeks. The three games here this week are each scheduled for 6:37 p.m. starts. Toronto will visit Yankee Stadium for night games Sept. 16-17-18. Then the teams return to Sahlen for four more games Sept. 21-24.
All three games this week will be televised on the YES Network. The games on Tuesday and Wednesday are scheduled for the MLB Network outside the YES Network market area.
Toronto looked about to lose its third straight to the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on Sunday before the Jays sent 12 batters to the plate in the fifth inning and scored six times to erase a 4-1 deficit, then had to hold on for a 10-8 victory. Cavan Biggio, Joe Panik, Caleb Joseph and Derek Fisher each drove in two runs for the Jays. Rowdy Tellez, who had three hits in Saturday's loss to Boston, had three more on Sunday including his eighth home run of the season, a solo shot in the sixth inning.
People are also reading…
Meanwhile at Oriole Park in Baltimore, the Yankees' struggles continued. New York managed only four hits, including two singles and a ninth-inning triple by Miguel Andujar, in a 5-1 loss to the Orioles. Baltimore starter Dean Kremer, who was making his major league debut, allowed only one hit with seven strikeouts in six innings.
With Sunday's outcomes the Blue Jays (22-18) moved past the Yankees (21-19) into second place in the American League East standings. Tampa Bay (28-13) leads the division. The Yanks lost the last three of a four-game set in Camden Yards after winning 19 in a row over the Birds. Since they completed a sweep of Boston on Aug. 17, the Yanks have gone 5-13 as their injured list continued to grow.
Toronto, meanwhile, will go into what could be a pivotal series without right fielder Teoscar Hernandez, one of the shining lights of the Blue Jays season. The 27-year-old Hernandez, who was obtained in a midseason trade with the Houston Astros in 2017, was enjoying a breakout season. He was batting .308 with 14 home runs, 27 RBIs, 27 runs and five steals in 39 games. Hernandez went 3 for 5 in Saturday's loss in Boston before he was sidelined with a rib injury.Â
The Jays will get no sympathy from the Yankees, who have a long list of injured that includes Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. Third baseman Gio Urshela and pitcher Jonathan Loaisiga were the latest go on the injured List. Urshela has a bone spur problem in his right elbow. Andujar and DJ LeMahieu are splitting the duties at third base in Urshela's absence.
The pitching matchups for the Yanks-Jays series looks like this: New York lefty Jordan Montgomery (2-2) vs. lefty Hyun Jin Ryu (3-1) in the opener; lefty J.A. Happ (1-1) vs. right-hander Taijuan Walker (3-2) on Tuesday and rookie right-hander Deivi Garcia (0-1) against Toronto's Tanner Roark (2-1) on Wednesday.
Toronto is 8-5 in "home" games actually played at Sahlen Field, including four wins in their last five appearances there.
