Yankees at Blue Jays
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. represents the future for the Toronto Blue Jays, and the prized rookie gave the New York Yankees a firsthand glimpse of what the hype is all about. Guerrero clubbed a go-ahead three-run homer in a come-from-behind victory Wednesday and put the Blue Jays in position to complete a three-game sweep of the visiting Yankees on Thursday night.
Randal Grichuk has three homers in the series after going deep twice and driving in three runs in Wednesday's 11-7 victory to give Toronto back-to-back wins for the first time since April 27-28. Guerrero and Grichuk scored three runs apiece and Teoscar Hernández doubled in a pair in his first game back from the minors for the Blue Jays, who had lost six in a row entering the series. DJ LeMahieu went 3-for-5 with a three-run homer and four RBIs for New York, which has dropped three straight and had its streak of nine consecutive series wins snapped. Gary Sanchez clubbed his 19th homer for the Yankees, eclipsing the franchise record held by Yogi Berra for the most by a catcher before the All-Star break.
TV: 7:07 p.m. ET, ESPN, YES (New York), SportsnetOne, TVAS (Toronto)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Yankees LH J.A. Happ (5-3, 4.83 ERA) vs. Blue Jays RH Edwin Jackson (0-3, 13.22)
Happ extended his unbeaten streak to five starts by holding Boston to one run and three hits over five innings Friday to improve to 4-0 since May 9. He struck out a season-high 10 batters to win at Kansas City in his previous turn, giving up three runs on four hits, but continues to have trouble keeping the ball in the park with 15 homers surrendered in his 12 outings. Happ, who won 40 games over the previous 2 1/2 seasons with Toronto before his trade to New York last year, beat the Blue Jays with 5 1/3 innings of two-run ball in August.
A rash of injuries to the rotation enabled Jackson to land in Toronto but he is offering little to show he deserves to keep his spot. After a decent season debut in which he allowed two earned runs over five innings, his performance has declined in each subsequent start, capped by a wretched performance at Colorado last time out in which he was pounded for 10 runs and 10 hits over 2 1/3 innings. Jackson is 2-7 with a 5.21 ERA versus the Yankees, but hasn't face them since making two relief appearances in June 2017.
WALK-OFFS
1. LeMahieu is 24-for-51 with 29 RBIs this season with runners in scoring position.
2. Grichuk is 14-for-70 lifetime versus New York but 13 of the hits are for extra bases, including eight homers.
3. Sanchez has 13 homers and 26 RBIs over his last 29 games.