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The New York Yankees won't have their hottest hitter Wednesday night, although that may not be a break for Toronto Blue Jays starter J.A. Happ. The visiting Yankees have won their last four games with Brian McCann starting at catcher, but he'll be replaced in the lineup by Austin Romine. McCann has hit safely in his five games, going 9 for 18. Continue to Article

April 13, 2016 9:57:am EST

April 13 (Infostrada Sports) - Results from the MLB games on Tuesday (home team in CAPS) DETROIT 8 Pittsburgh 2 Arizona 4 LA DODGERS 2 WASHINGTON 2 Atlanta 1 PHILADELPHIA 3 San Diego 0 NY Yankees 3 TORONTO 2 Baltimore 9 BOSTON 5 TAMPA BAY 5 Cleveland 1 Miami 2 NY METS 1 Kansas City 3 HOUSTON 2 San Francisco 7 COLORADO 2 Texas 8 SEATTLE 0 Continue to Article

April 13, 2016 12:54:am EST

TORONTO – It was another quiet night for Blue Jays hitters not named Josh Donaldson or Jose Bautista. Starting pitcher Aaron Sanchez lost enough little battles to leave frustrated. A key reliever gave up a big run late. Add it all up and the result for Toronto on Tuesday in the first game of a three-game series against the New York Yankees was a 3-2 loss . The Yankees scored the winning run in the seventh inning off Brett Cecil on Jacoby Ellsbury’s soft single to left after Cecil allowed the first two hitters he faced to reach base. The Blue Jays’ left-hander rebounded to strike out Brett Gardner before being pulled for Jesse Chavez, but the damage was done. That’s now two losses in four appearances and a 10.13 ERA for Cecil, who was such an integral part of Toronto’s success down the stretch last season. “I’ve seen him start slow. That last pitch he threw to Gardner is his typical curveball. Hopefully that gets him going,” said manager John Gibbons. “He’s going to be fine … but he’s off right now, there’s no secret about that.”  Sanchez was attempting to follow up his terrific first start on the road against Tampa Bay, where he went seven innings and gave up one run while striking out eight and most notably not allowing any walks. The visiting Yankees, however, would be presenting a more difficult challenge than the Rays did and pressing on one of Sanchez’s weaknesses to date. Seven of the nine hitters in the Yankees’ starting lineup were either left-handed or hit from both sides of the plate. To say the difference in Sanchez’s splits so far through his major-league career have been pronounced would be an understatement. Lefties have hammered him to the tune of a .788 OPS while he’s held righties to a .406 OPS. He also struggled with his command during his time as a starter in 2015, averaging over five walks per nine innings. While two runs, one earned, over six innings would be seen as a good outing in most cases, Sanchez was disappointed with himself. He committed a throwing error on a pickoff attempt in the second inning that brought in a Yankees run. Then Brian McCann, a switch-hitter hitting from the left side, socked a solo home run in the sixth to tie the game 2-2. Sanchez threw 97 pitches, but only 54 for strikes, ultimately walking three. By comparison he threw 92 pitches in his start against the Rays, 64 of them for strikes. “I let some things affect me that shouldn’t have,” said Sanchez. “There were a couple calls that didn’t go my way. Obviously being in the big leagues that’s something that shouldn’t affect you. For me it did and it cost us a run in the second. “You can’t go out there expecting to do great when it’s ball-ball-ball, strike-strike-strike, ball-strike. You can’t expect to get calls, either. That’s something I’ll work on [over] these five days and I’ll be sharp next start.” Toronto’s hitters were heading into their own personal buzzsaw. Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka has had great success against the Blue Jays since coming over to MLB from Japan in 2014, posting a 2.23 ERA over seven starts. Bautista got the Blue Jays on the board with a two-RBI double in the third and while Tanaka lasted only five innings, that was the extent of the offence against New York's ace. It wasn’t until the bottom of the seventh inning until Toronto threatened again, and it was no surprise Donaldson and Bautista were at the centre of the rally. Donaldson was on with two outs with Bautista at the plate facing Dellin Betances. Bautista battled the dominant Yankees reliever to a 3-2 count, but Betances dropped a devastating curveball on Bautista for a strikeout to end the inning. Once again, the Blue Jays’ No. 2 and No. 3 hitters didn’t get much help: Edwin Encarnacion, Troy Tulowitzki, Chris Colabello, Michael Saunders, Russell Martin, and Ryan Goins combined to go 0-for-19 with nine strikeouts. It’s the continuation of an early season trend. Bautista (1.167), Donaldson (1.113), and Saunders (.774) were the only Toronto hitters with an OPS over .700 entering Tuesday’s game. “I thought we worked Tanaka really well. He was picking around the corners on us and I thought we had a really good approach there,” said Gibbons. “But, you know, we’ve got some guys that are cold right now. That’ll change; they’re too good of hitters.” “I think we’re not too far off,” added Martin. “We believe we have a great team offensively, overall I feel like we have a great team. Hits are going to come. We’re going to start loosening up a little bit and we’ll start playing like how he we know we can play.” More MLB coverage from Yahoo Canada Sports: - - - - - - - Israel Fehr is a writer for Yahoo Canada Sports . Email him at israelfehr@yahoo.ca or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr Continue to Article

April 13, 2016 12:30:am EST

TORONTO – It was another quiet night for Blue Jays hitters not named Josh Donaldson or Jose Bautista. Starting pitcher Aaron Sanchez lost enough little battles to leave frustrated. A key reliever gave up a big run late. Add it all up and the result for Toronto on Tuesday in the first game of a three-game series against the New York Yankees was a 3-2 loss . The Yankees scored the winning run in the seventh inning off Brett Cecil on Jacoby Ellsbury’s soft single to left after Cecil allowed the first two hitters he faced to reach base. The Blue Jays’ left-hander rebounded to strike out Brett Gardner before being pulled for Jesse Chavez, but the damage was done. That’s now two losses in four appearances and a 10.13 ERA for Cecil, who was such an integral part of Toronto’s success down the stretch last season. “I’ve seen him start slow. That last pitch he threw to Gardner is his typical curveball. Hopefully that gets him going,” said manager John Gibbons. “He’s going to be fine … but he’s off right now, there’s no secret about that.”  Sanchez was attempting to follow up his terrific first start on the road against Tampa Bay, where he went seven innings and gave up one run while striking out eight and most notably not allowing any walks. The visiting Yankees, however, would be presenting a more difficult challenge than the Rays did and pressing on one of Sanchez’s weaknesses to date. Seven of the nine hitters in the Yankees’ starting lineup were either left-handed or hit from both sides of the plate. To say the difference in Sanchez’s splits so far through his major-league career have been pronounced would be an understatement. Lefties have hammered him to the tune of a .788 OPS while he’s held righties to a .406 OPS. He also struggled with his command during his time as a starter in 2015, averaging over five walks per nine innings. While two runs, one earned, over six innings would be seen as a good outing in most cases, Sanchez was disappointed with himself. He committed a throwing error on a pickoff attempt in the second inning that brought in a Yankees run. Then Brian McCann, a switch-hitter hitting from the left side, socked a solo home run in the sixth to tie the game 2-2. Sanchez threw 97 pitches, but only 54 for strikes, ultimately walking three. By comparison he threw 92 pitches in his start against the Rays, 64 of them for strikes. “I let some things affect me that shouldn’t have,” said Sanchez. “There were a couple calls that didn’t go my way. Obviously being in the big leagues that’s something that shouldn’t affect you. For me it did and it cost us a run in the second. “You can’t go out there expecting to do great when it’s ball-ball-ball, strike-strike-strike, ball-strike. You can’t expect to get calls, either. That’s something I’ll work on [over] these five days and I’ll be sharp next start.” Toronto’s hitters were heading into their own personal buzzsaw. Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka has had great success against the Blue Jays since coming over to MLB from Japan in 2014, posting a 2.23 ERA over seven starts. Bautista got the Blue Jays on the board with a two-RBI double in the third and while Tanaka lasted only five innings, that was the extent of the offence against New York's ace. It wasn’t until the bottom of the seventh inning until Toronto threatened again, and it was no surprise Donaldson and Bautista were at the centre of the rally. Donaldson was on with two outs with Bautista at the plate facing Dellin Betances. Bautista battled the dominant Yankees reliever to a 3-2 count, but Betances dropped a devastating curveball on Bautista for a strikeout to end the inning. Once again, the Blue Jays’ No. 2 and No. 3 hitters didn’t get much help: Edwin Encarnacion, Troy Tulowitzki, Chris Colabello, Michael Saunders, Russell Martin, and Ryan Goins combined to go 0-for-19 with nine strikeouts. It’s the continuation of an early season trend. Bautista (1.167), Donaldson (1.113), and Saunders (.774) were the only Toronto hitters with an OPS over .700 entering Tuesday’s game. “I thought we worked Tanaka really well. He was picking around the corners on us and I thought we had a really good approach there,” said Gibbons. “But, you know, we’ve got some guys that are cold right now. That’ll change; they’re too good of hitters.” “I think we’re not too far off,” added Martin. “We believe we have a great team offensively, overall I feel like we have a great team. Hits are going to come. We’re going to start loosening up a little bit and we’ll start playing like how he we know we can play.” More MLB coverage from Yahoo Canada Sports: - - - - - - - Israel Fehr is a writer for Yahoo Canada Sports . Email him at israelfehr@yahoo.ca or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr Continue to Article

April 13, 2016 12:30:am EST

The New York Yankees won't have their hottest hitter Wednesday night, although that may not be a break for Toronto Blue Jays starter J.A. Happ. The visiting Yankees have won their last four games with Brian McCann starting at catcher, but he'll be replaced in the lineup by Austin Romine. McCann has hit safely in his five games, going 9 for 18. Continue to Article

April 13, 2016 12:09:am EST