The New York Yankees lined up five unanswered runs behind two homers from Ryan McMahon and Ben Rice, as they won their second matchup against the Toronto Blue Jays. At 30–19, the Yankees are aiming for a clean sweep. Before that pursuit continues, here are the key takeaways from the latest game.

The Yankees Capitalized on Toronto’s Pitching Collapse And Their Lineup

Blue Jays starter Dylan Cease entered the May 19 clash ranked among the best in the league with 75 strikeouts, tops in the league.

However, his arm never really worked against the pinstripes lineup. He walked four batters in five innings, including Aaron Judge and Jazz Chisholm Jr. back-to-back in the fourth.

Although Dylan’s initial pitching was praiseworthy, he made a blunder while pitching to Ryan McMahon. In the fourth inning, Ryan crushed a three-run homer to tie the game.

In addition to that, Cease needed 100 pitches to complete five innings and finished 3-2.

Against the Yankees, Dylan got a reality check. While Cease prioritized strikeouts, the deep Yankees lineup proved difficult to navigate.

As he exited the mound, reliever Adam Macko took over and threw to Ben Rice, who hammered a two-run homer to give the Yankees a commanding lead.

Will Warren and the Bullpen - The Winning Formula

While the batting lineup held its own, the pitching staff was not that far behind.

Will Warren improved to 6-1 after holding his ground on Tuesday night, logging five innings and surrendering three earned runs.

The bullpen behind him was close to perfection.

Tim Hall, Jake Bird, and Brent Headrick combined to allow just one hit across three innings.

The Yankees are now 11-1 in their last 12 home games, a stretch that proves how dominant they are at their own home ground.

Although their outing was near perfection, the only issue came in the ninth inning, when  Camilo Doval gave a sacrifice fly to Vladimir Guerrero Jr before escaping two runners.

Pitching Matchup to Shape the Series

In the finale, Cam Schlittler will be starting for the Yankees, and it's bad news for the Blue Jays.

With a league-leading 1.35 ERA, Schlittler has surrendered just six runs in his last 43.1 innings. In addition to that, a 0.90 WHIP just shows how much control Schlittler has on his innings.

Schlittler owns the superior run support and the better road record. However, the Blue Jays are not far behind.

Trey Yesavage is set to start against the Yankees in the rubber match, and he is known for being sharper in high-leverage situations.

However, given Toronto’s bullpen depth concern and the Yankees' home record, New York enters as analytical favorites to win the match and sweep the Jays.

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Written by

Suryakant Das

Edited by

Koushik Biswas