At some point reality catches up with us all. This is exactly what happened to Ivan Nova in this game. Nova came into the game with a 3.65 ERA and a 4.24 FIP. He has outperformed his FIP by .59 this season, so it was no big surprise to see him give up four earned runs on eight hits with one of those hits being a home run. Nova did manage to last six innings which marks the third start in a row that he has gone six plus innings. Overall you can’t expect much more from a Nova start.
One day after getting one hit, the Yankees continued to struggle at the plate for a majority of the game. Marco Estrada held the Yanks to 0 runs on three hits in eight innings of work. After Carlos Beltran was hit by a pitch in the ninth inning by Blue Jay reliever Aaron Loup, Brian McCann managed to get the Yankees on the board with a two-run home run. In total the Yankees collected five hits, but it was too little too late as the Bombers fell 4 -2 in the first game of the three-game road series against Toronto.
The Play: Encarnacion’s RBI double in the first (+.114 WPA)
Top Performers
Yankees: Brian McCann (1 for 4, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI)
Blue Jays: Ryan Goins (2 for 2, 1 HR, 2 R, 1 RBI)
Notes
– Richard Bleier, the 29 year old pitcher, made his major-league debut and forced two groundouts in 2/3 inning of relief.
The Quote
“Estrada was tough on us.” – Joe Girardi
The Highlight: Didi makes an amazing play
http://mediadownloads.mlb.com/mlbam/mp4/2016/05/31/757140483/1464656694745/asset_1800K.mp4
Up Next
Game two of the three-game series against Toronto begins Tuesday at 7:07 p.m. ET at the Rogers Centre.
C.C. Sabathia is on the bump for the Yankees and the projected starter for the Blue Jays is J.A. Happ. Sabathia has been somewhat of a mixed bag this season. In seven starts this season he has gone six plus innings five times and in his last two starts coming off the DL his K/9 has been 12.00 and 9.00. He has also only given up one home run all season. Do not expect this trend to continue in his next start as the Blue Jays have a plethora of big hitters who are starting to heat up.
As for the Blue Jays projected starter, Happ has been a surprising bright spot as he leads all Jay’s starting pitchers with an ERA of 3.20. This number is almost certainly distorted and likely to regress considering he is outperforming his FIP of 4.25 by more than a full point.
Photo Credit: Dan Hamilton / USA TODAY Sports