NEW YORK – Trey Yesavage outpitched Cam Schlittler in a marquee matchup between young aces, and the Toronto Blue Jays edged the New York Yankees 2-1 on Wednesday night.
Following a rain delay that lasted more than two hours, the right-handers traded zeros until the seventh inning — when Toronto loaded the bases with nobody out on an infield single, a walk and a bunt single.
Andrés Giménez then fouled off seven pitches, five with two strikes, before drawing an 11-pitch walk that scored Ernie Clement and chased Schlittler. One out later, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. lofted a sacrifice fly against Jake Bird to make it 2-0.
Yesavage (2-1) allowed just two hits and walked none while striking out eight over six shutout innings. The 22-year-old rookie has a 1.07 ERA in five starts after missing the first month this season due to a right shoulder impingement.
Three of his strikeouts came against three-time AL MVP Aaron Judge, who fanned all four times up.
Mason Fluharty, Jeff Hoffman and Tyler Rogers combined for six outs before the Yankees threatened against Louis Varland in the ninth. He gave up two hits and Paul Goldschmidt’s run-scoring comebacker before striking out Amed Rosario with a 99 mph fastball to earn his sixth save.
The 25-year-old Schlittler (6-2) permitted eight hits and two walks with seven strikeouts as his major league-leading ERA rose to 1.50.
It was the first time Yesavage and Schlittler have squared off after both authored dominant performances as rookies in the postseason last year.
Schlittler struck out 12 over eight innings in a 4-0 win against rival Boston in the decisive game of their AL Wild Card Series to advance New York to the Division Series versus Toronto, where Yesavage tossed 5 1/3 hitless innings with 11 strikeouts in a Game 2 victory over the Yankees.
The start Wednesday night was delayed by rain for 2 hours, 11 minutes.
Blue Jays right fielder Jesús Sánchez was shaken up in the seventh after diving for Goldschmidt's bloop single. Sánchez left the game but simply had the wind knocked out of him and is day-to-day, manager John Schneider said.
Up next
LHP Carlos Rodón (0-1, 5.63 ERA) pitches for the Yankees in Thursday’s series finale. The Blue Jays hadn't announced a scheduled starter, though RHP Spencer Miles (1-0, 2.55) is expected to pitch bulk innings in some capacity.
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