Another One Run Loss

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May 19, 2026; Bronx, New York, USA; Toronto Blue Jays relief pitcher Mason Fluharty (68) pitches in the seventh inning against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images | Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

Jays 4 Yankees 5

I don’t know…..

Dylan Cease was pitching great and the Jays got three runs in the fourth. All seemed good in the world.

In that fourth:

• Daulton Varsho singled.
• Kazuma Okamoto walked.
• Yohendrick Piñango singled, and we had our first run.
• Jesús Sánchez singled in the second run, nice line drive hit, but his follow through caught catcher Austin Wells in the head and there was a delay while they looked at him.
• Andrés Giménez singled, scoring our third run. Unfortunately it ended there, Tyler Heineman popped out and George Springer ground out.

The long break seemed to affect Cease, he wasn’t great in the bottom of the fourth, giving up a couple of walks and a Ryan McMahon home run.

Cease gave up two more in the fifth, on a Ben Rice homer. 5 innings, 5 earned isn’t what we were hoping to see.

The bullpen did the job. Adam Macko (two outs), Chase Lee (one out, two walks), Mason Fluharty (one inning), Louis Varland (1 inning).

But we didn’t score again. We had chances:

• In the seventh, Vlad was hit by pitch and Varsho singled but Okamoto ground out.
• In the ninth, Giménez walked and Ernie Clement singled (have to admire that he came into the game since he was suffering from strep throat). But Springer lined one right at pitcher Camilo Doval, who managed to snag it. 90 mph and almost straight at his head (Baseball Savant has it at a .470 expected BA). Then Vlad lined one fairly deep to right-center (339 feet, I thought it was deeper when I first watched), but Trent Grisham made the catch (Baseball Savant says a .320 expected BA) that scored a run. Varsho beat out an infield single, putting runners on the corners. But Okamoto ground out and that was the game.

We had nine hits, and 3 walks, but again, no extra base hits, which seems to be the usual thing for out Jays.

Daulton went 4 for 5. No one else had more than one hit.

We had three guys in the lineup with batting average in the .100s, with Schneider’s .136 being the low mark. I don’t know how much more run way he has. You can tell he’s been bad, John had him bunt (and he did a good job of it). Heineman isn’t much better at .143.

Of note, the Yankees lost a challenge on a caught stealing call that the replay we saw made it look like he was easily safe. Aaron Boone was understandably upset.

And I always get irritated when announcers talk about how hard it will be for a pitcher when he sits a long and generally, when they come back for the next inning they are fine, but tonight was the time it came to pass that Clease (at least seemed) to be affected by the long inning.

Jays of the Day: Varsho (0.21 WPA), Clement (0.15) and Giménez (0.09).

Other Award: Cease (-0.36), Vlad (-0.18), Springer (-0.10), and Heineman (-0.10).

Tomorrow Trey Yesavage (1-1, 1.40) goes against Cam Schlittler (6-1, 1.35). The bullpen could use a big of a rest but Trey isn’t pitching deep into games.

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