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Blue Jays Open With Statement Win in the Bronx

By on April 2, 2021

[Box Score]

In a game the New York Yankees had several chances to win as heavy favorites, it was the battle-tested Toronto Blue Jays who showed up and grinded out a hard fought victory in the Bronx on Opening day by a score of 3-2.

First off, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. truly looks like a matured hitter who is locked in. While he might not have a 40 home run season on tap for all of us in 2021, he’s a big league hitter now.

For instance, in his first plate appearance of the season, look at the missile he hit off Yankees’ ace Gerrit Cole.

Furthermore, that was just the start of a stellar day for Guerrero Jr. at the dish. He worked two more walks in what were really solid at-bats and didn’t strike out.

Gary Sanchez caught the only mistake that Hyun-Jin Ryu made all day for a home run to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead. Then Teoscar Hernandez homered to tie the game 2-2.

Finally, the Jays scratched a run across the plate in the 10th on a Randal Grichuk double that would hold up as the winning run. It’s worth mentioning that the Jays escaped dangerous situations in the innings preceding this.

One thing that will keep Toronto in games this year is while they lack starting pitching – their bullpen is an underrated unit. This was evidenced by Jordan Romano blowing away the heart of the Yankees order in the 9th and then Julian Merriweather earning the save in the 10th. In addition to those two, they have guys like David Phelps and Rafael Dolis who are veterans that will eat innings.

Overall, expect a bunch that competes on a nightly basis and ends up battling for a Wildcard spot.

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