Chris Bassitt mowed the Yankees down for 6.1 innings of 1 run ball, and the Toronto bullpen did the rest in beating NY 3-1 on a Monday night in Toronto.
Bassitt allowed 3 straight singles in the 2nd inning for a Yankee run (RBI Oswaldo Cabrera) but other than that was tough to hit.
Yankee starter Luis Gil pitched 5 innings, striking out 6 but walking 7 — including 3 in the 2nd inning when he walked in a run, then threw a wild pitch for another run.
Toronto made it 3-1 in the 3rd when Gleyber Torres failed to make a play on an infield grounder that was ruled a hit, the runner coming around to score on a 2-out double. It had Gleyber trending all night on Twitter as many Yankee fans were non-plussed.
“He’s the epitome of the kitchen sink,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards about Bassitt. “He’ll throw everything. He will make things up on the fly. He’s very good at coming up with different pitches so it’s hard to really get a bead on him. And he has pretty good command with everything. Mixes it up just about as good as anyone. We just weren’t able to get a bead on him once he settled in.”
NY falls to 12-5. Toronto improves to 9-8.
1. Bassitt Makes Yanks Blue
Chris Bassitt led the American League in wins last year with a 16-8 3.60 record, a year after going 15-9 3.42 with the Mets. That after some terrific years coming up with Oakland. He signed a 3-year, $22 M a year contract with Toronto before the 2023 season and has been a tremendous signing for them.
The 6’5, 35-year-old righty got roughed up in his first 2 starts of this season, before pitching a gem in his last start against Seattle. The Yanks looked like they might rough him up in this start too, when Gleyber Torres, Alex Verdugo, and Oswaldo Cabrera hit consecutive 1-out singles off him in the top of the 2nd for a run.
Waldo gets us on the board 👊 pic.twitter.com/LWk1nImxxK
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) April 15, 2024
But Bassitt got Austin Wells to hit a long fly ball to the warning track in left for out #2, and then got a groundout to end the inning.
In the top of the 3rd, NY started peppering him some more — a leadoff single by Anthony Volpe and line out by Juan Soto. But Bassitt retired the rest of the side and started to get in rhythm.
Chris Bassitt taking Signs cracks me up. 🙂 pic.twitter.com/yYfByKQyLE
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 16, 2024
Bassitt pitched around walks in the 5th and 6th, and left after striking out Gleyber Torres to start the 7th.
It's less like "calling pitches" and more like an "on-going conversation" when Bassitt is on the bump. pic.twitter.com/zusAzXLks0
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 16, 2024
2. Gil Great — But Wild
Meanwhile Luis Gil (pronounced ‘heel’ like in Gilamonster) had great stuff but had trouble with his command — striking out 6 and walking 7 in 5 innings.
Staked to a 1-0 lead, he allowed a leadoff double to Cavan Biggio in the bottom of the 2nd, then walked 3 straight batters — the 3rd one being Isiah Kiner-Falefa — for a run. Then he threw a wild pitch and it was 2-1 Toronto, bases loaded, still 1 out.
But he rebounded — getting the tough George Springer and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.to both groundout to 3rd to end the inning.
Gleyber Doesn’t Make the Play
Bo Bichette led off the 3rd with a chopper towards 2nd that Gleyber Torres charged but couldn’t pick up — Bichette safe at 1st on what was ruled an infield single. Yankee Twitter howled — a good defensive play would have gotten Bichette. “Gleyber” started trending on Twitter.
A 2-out double by Alejandro Kirk scored Bichette and ‘Gleyber’ trended the rest of the night.
Gil pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 4th, striking out 2, and pitched around 2 walks in the 5th thanks to a double play. He only allowed 3 hits in the 5 innings. He loses to go 0-1 3.86.
“Just a tough night. Credit to him to be able to get through 5,” said manager Aaron Boone about Gil’s performance. “It’s a testament to just how good his stuff is and how hard he is to hit. Almost anyone else goes out there and does that and they’re hanging 7, 8, 9 on you. On a night where we’re really short, he battled through it, actually finished pretty strong — but obviously that was an issue for him tonite.”
Luis Gil, Filthy 90mph Changeup. 😷 pic.twitter.com/HqlRr26rB2
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 15, 2024
3. Yank Bullpen Shut’s ‘Em Down
Ron Marinaccio pitched a shutout 6th and 7th and looked good. Gone were his control problems of a year ago. He allowed 1 hit and 1 walk.
Dennis Santana pitched a shutout 8th.
4. Choose the Form of the Destructor
Tim Mayza got the last 2 outs of the 7th after Bassitt left, and the Yankees were asked to “Choose the form of your Destructor” for the 8th.
Everyone emptied their heads but Chad Green‘s name popped into someone’s head — and he came out and mowed them down 1-2-3.
Yimi Garcia pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning for the old ballgame.
Etcetera
Just before the game the Yankees announced that John Sterling would be retiring effective immediately, and that there would be a day in his honor on Sunday. Yankee Twitter all night was paying John homage including posting all his great calls.
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