The New York Yankees defeated the Blue Jays in a 9-8 win

The previous afternoon, the New York Yankees had lost their home opener against the Toronto Blue Jays, so they sent out Clarke Schmidt for his second start of the year in an attempt to get revenge. He would take on the well-known Yankee killer Kevin Gausman in what we all anticipated would be a hotly contested pitching match. Rather than what you might expect to be a fight of the bats, we were treated to quite the slugfest. For the most of the game, the Yankees offense was in full control as they scored nine runs in the first six innings, taking a 9-2 lead into the seventh.

The Yankees were able to seal the deal and record their seventh victory of the year despite the Toronto Blue Jays scoring six runs in three innings.

Kevin Gausman is known for being a Yankee killer, but in tonight’s game, the Yankees ran him out of the game after he only managed four outs. In this uncommon Saturday night game, the Yankees piled up six runs—five of them earned—on the right-hander, who was suffering from limited velocity and other issues. They were out early in the scoring as Giancarlo Stanton hit a solo home run to right field after Juan Soto had walked, setting up an Aaron Judge two-run homer.

Their patient at-bats against Gausman, who threw almost 50 pitches in the game before getting Gleyber Torres to hit a sacrifice fly for his final recorded out, would be on display in the second inning. Although Gleyber Torres’ flyball narrowly missed becoming a grand slam, he would go on to add another hit to the parade by hitting a double later in the game. Before leaving in the fifth inning, Clarke Schmidt let the Blue Jays reduce the lead to only four runs after he walked three batters in the chilly and windy conditions early in the game.

With Juan Soto adding an insurance run an inning later with an RBI single, it appeared as though Anthony Rizzo’s two-run bomb in the sixth would put an end to the Blue Jays’ season. But like with Clarke Schmidt, Luke Weaver’s game fell apart in his third inning of work, giving up three runs on three hits and a walk, including a single home run from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Before Ian Hamilton was brought in for the final innings, Victor Gonzalez would halt the bleeding and fire 1.1 innings.

After failing to keep the bases empty and giving up a walk and two hits, Aaron Boone decided to pinch-hit Clay Holmes to end the game. Holmes ended a potentially devastating game for the Yankees with a groundball, a single, and a strikeout. The Yankees escape with a victory rather than being forced to reflect on a heartbreaking defeat. Tomorrow, they will have an opportunity to steal a series when Luis Gil takes on Bowden Francis in an afternoon game.