NEW YORK — Just like the weather, Gleyber Torres is starting to heat up. The Yankees’ second baseman has hit two big home runs in the last four games. Wednesday, it was a three-run shot and he finished with five RBI to power the Bombers past the Blue Jays, 5-3, at the Stadium.
The Yankees (22-8) swept the two-game series from their American League East rivals and have won six of the nine games they have played this season. Nine of the 11 runs they scored off the Blue Jays (17-15) in the series came off a three-run homer. Giancarlo Stanton had one Tuesday night and Aaron Judge won that game with a walk-off, three-run homer.
Torres had his three-run shot in the fourth. He then doubled in two runs in the sixth inning. It was his second career game with five RBI or more, the last being in his break-out 2019 season. He had six RBI Aug.s 12, 2019 against the Orioles.
He snapped an 0-for-11 streak with that fourth-inning at-bat and had been hitless in five of his last six games after hitting safely in eight of his previous 10. Still, the second baseman has 19 hits this season and nine have been for extra bases. That includes his walk-off homer on Sunday in the first game of a doubleheader, which Rangers manager Chris Wooward described as an out in every other big league park.
Jameson Taillon struggled with his command early Wednesday, needing 27 pitches to get through the first inning. He walked leadoff hitter George Springer, who scored on Teoscar Hernandez’s ground out with the bases loaded.
He settled in after that and gave the Yankees another really good start.
Facing the Blue Jays for the second straight start, he allowed two runs on six hits. He walked one — just the third he has given all season — and struck out four in 5.1 innings of work. He is the first Yankees starter — not opener — to allow no more than two runs and walk one in each of his first six starts of the season.
A day after the sparks flew between the Blue Jays and Yankees, Wednesday was relatively quiet. Tuesday night, Yimi Garcia had been ejected for hitting Josh Donaldson in the arm. Pitching coach Pete Walker was ejected with him and manager Charlie Montoyo was tossed later. MLB rules state that a manager ejected with a pitcher throwing intentionally at a batter is suspended for one game, but the league overruled that. Montoyo managed the Blue Jays Wednesday. Donaldson was out of the lineup Wednesday, a scheduled day of rest Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.
