TORONTO — The Yankees played north of the border Monday but their offense appeared to have gotten stuck in customs.
Chris Bassitt quieted the Yankees bats across 6 ¹/₃ innings to lift the Blue Jays to a 3-1 win in the series opener Monday night at Rogers Centre.
Bassitt, the ex-Mets right-hander, allowed just one run on four singles and two walks while navigating his way through the Yankees lineup.
He became only the second opposing starter this season to pitch into the seventh inning against the Yankees (12-5), who have lost consecutive games for the first time this year.
“He is the epitome of the kitchen sink,” manager Aaron Boone said of Bassitt, who threw eight different types of pitches. “He’ll throw everything. He’s able to make things up on the fly. He’s very good at coming up with different pitches, so it’s hard to really get a bead on him. He has pretty good command with everything. That sinker’s his bread and butter that he gets to, but he’ll mix in the slow curve, he’ll change speed on the slider, he’ll cut the ball. He mixes it up just about as good as anyone.”
In four career starts against the Yankees, Bassitt owns a 1.00 ERA with 31 strikeouts across 27 innings.
“He’s nasty,” said Oswaldo Cabrera, who drove in the Yankees’ only run of the night with an RBI single in the second inning. “He’s a really nice pitcher. Everyone can [see] because he has too many pitches to beat you up. We tried to battle, but we know he’s a really good pitcher.”
Three straight singles from Gleyber Torres, Alex Verdugo and Cabrera turned into a 1-0 Yankees lead with one out in the second inning.
But that was their only real scoring threat of the game as Bassitt got out of the jam and then largely cruised the rest of the night.
Luis Gil, meanwhile, needed 74 pitches just to record nine outs but managed to make it through five innings, though the damage was done by then. The right-hander tied a career high with seven walks, which led to two of the three runs he gave up.
“Definitely not my night tonight,” Gil, who struck out six, said through an interpreter.
Boone pointed to Gil’s mechanics possibly being out of whack while Gil said it could have been mechanics or “overthrowing a little bit at times,” though he wanted to watch video to figure out the exact cause for his lack of command.
After Cavan Biggio led off the second inning with a double, Gil walked three straight batters — the third being ex-Yankee Isiah Kiner-Falefa, which forced in a run to tie the game. The go-ahead run scored soon after on a wild pitch, giving the Blue Jays (9-8) the lead for good.
In the third inning, Bo Bichette singled and two strikeouts later, came around to score on an RBI double from Alejandro Kirk that made it 3-1.
But the fact that Gil did not let the game unravel on him and instead got through the fifth saved the Yankees on a night when they were short in the bullpen, and impressed Boone.
“If almost anyone else goes out there and does that [seven walks], they’re hanging seven, eight, nine [runs] on you,” Boone said. “I think it just goes to show you, when he’s in the strike zone, he can be dominant and will be dominant. That’s just that next level for him. That’s where we’ve seen growth, with his strike-throwing ability. Tonight, it was a challenge for him. If that continues to improve, you got a peek — even on a night where he struggled — how difficult he is to square up. Glad he was able to grind through it, especially on a night when we had to have innings.”
