Yankees 13, Blue Jays 2
A symphony of bat cracks echoed throughout an empty Yankee Stadium Tuesday night. The New York Yankees squared up balls left and right on route to six home runs and 11 extra base hits in their 20-6 rout of the Toronto Blue Jays. For an encore, the Yankees offense picked up where they left off, performing another concert of loud cracks Wednesday night.
After two close games against the Baltimore Orioles, the Yankees offense woke up in a big way. In fact, they accomplished something Wednesday that the franchise has never seen before after hitting seven more home runs in a 13-2 victory. It was the first time a Yankee team has hit six or more home runs in consecutive games. Three of those home runs came off the bat catcher Kyle Higashioka. Normally the back-up, Higashioka was in the starting lineup to catch Gerrit Cole for the third consecutive time.
His power was always something that the organization liked, but it never matriculated into a successful enough stint to stay at the MLB level. Even now that he has been given the opportunity in 2020, he has not made the most of it. He entered the game with a .188/.188/.281 slash line and missed 22 games with an oblique injury. That context makes the performance all the more special for Higashioka, who views it as an example of baseball being baseball.
“It’s just kind of crazy how baseball works sometimes,” Higashioka said. “One minute you can’t hit the ball to save your life, and then the next game you play, you pop three over the fence.”
Hot Hitters
Higashioka was not the only Yankee with a multi-homer game on Wednesday. Second baseman DJ LeMahieu hit two of his own. LeMahieu is locked in a tight battle with Chicago White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson for the batting title. Anderson edged LeMahieu out in 2019, but after three hits in four at bats on Tuesday, LeMahieu is making a run at surpassing Anderson. He now boasts a .373 batting average, and that brings him to a tie with Anderson, who’s average dropped from .377 after a one-four-four night at the plate. LeMahieu has seven hits in the last two games against the Blue Jays, including six extra base hits.
After a multi-homer game of his own on Tuesday, first baseman Luke Voit hit another home run to bring his MLB-leading total to 19. The emerging MVP-candidate has five home runs in his last five games and six in his last nine.
Outfielder Clint Frazier has played his way into a consistent role now that the Yankees are getting healthy. He has displayed his ability to hit the ball to all fields in the past two nights. After a home run to right center field Tuesday night, he added a home run to left center field and an RBI single to center field Wednesday night. Those hits were two of four times on base for Frazier, tying a career high. He has multiple hits in three consecutive games and seven of his last 14 games.
Manager Aaron Boone thought it was an “excellent” performance from the Yankees offense.
“Up and down just a lot of good at bats from a lot of different people,” Boone said. “…it’s been a little bit of everyone up and down the order, and when you do that, you’re able to apply so much pressure.”
Fueled by their offense, the Yankees have outscored the Blue Jays 33-8 over the first two games of this series. Now, they own a one-and-a-half game lead over Toronto for second place in the AL East.
Main Photo: Embed from Getty Images
