The Yankees have adjusted their starting rotation again, but they still intend to rely heavily on their bull.
Even without Aroldis Chapman for a second straight game, the Auxiliary helped the Yankees to their first win of the season, a 5-3 victory over the Blue Jays on Saturday in The Bronx.
They got a second homer in as many games from Gary Sanchez and a two-pointer from Jay Bruce, but they held on to a two-run lead in the eighth innings when Darren O’Day allowed a few mere singles to get the turn.
O’Day recovered to get a few outs before manager Aaron Boone went to Chad Green for a four-out save. With two on and two out in the eighth innings, right-hander Rowdy Tellez turned on a 1-and-2, 95-mph four-seat to maintain the two-run lead.
Green finished the game in the ninth in front of an announced crowd of 10,107 at Yankee Stadium. Chapman will be back Sunday after serving out his two-game suspension for throwing near the head of the Rays’ Mike Brosseau last season.
The Yankees took a 1-0 lead in second place. Gio Urshela hit a two-out single and went to third place on a hard Clint Frazier double to the left. DJ LeMahieu follows with a slow foundation to third place and the throw of Cavan Biggio draws Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ‘s foot from the first base bag, resulting in an RBI single while Urshela passed.
Toronto tied the game in the third game using a few walks by Corey Kluber, starter from Yankees. A wild pitch brought Danny Jansen to third place and Jansen passed when Marcus Semien swept second and Sanchez’s throw went into midfield for an error.
Kluber also escaped from trouble in fourth place. Guerrero and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. took out consecutive singles with one, and Randal Grichuk drew a two-out run before Jansen kept the ground level to keep the game level.
Sanchez put the Yankees ahead again in the bottom of the innings, starting in his so many games with his second player. After falling behind 0-and-2, Sanchez got the score back to 2-and-2 and then sent a shot into the left field seats for a 2-1 lead.
A one-time move to Frazier and a single from LeMahieu knocked Jays starter Ross Stripling out of the game in fourth place. Aaron Judge’s single from Tyler Chatwood loaded the dogs for Aaron Hicks, whose inside hit ran into a run to make it 3-1.
Kluber immediately gave up a run in the fifth prize, which allowed a forerunner for Semien. It ends his afternoon after four plus innings in his Yankees debut. He allowed two runs, one earned, in four plus innings and threw 74 spots. After walking seven in his last two starting seven in the spring practice, the right hand walked three and hit another putt on Saturday.
Jonathan Loaisiga came in and retired all six of the batsmen he faced and hit three.
The Yankees added at the bottom of the sixth assurance. Rafael Dolis walked the two loaded bases before being replaced by Tim Mayza, who faced Bruce. Bruce flared a two-run drive in level left to extend the lead to 5-2.
Lucas Luetge, who played in his first major league game in 2015, allowed a lightning strike on Grichuk, giving him the seventh lead. He also threw some wild spots, which helped Grichuk score on Semien’s base, cutting it to 5-3.
In the eighth, O’Day went in and quickly allowed a few hits before getting Guerrero and to fly left and Gurriel to left to left, where Brett Gardner made the catch. Green arrives and deserves the rescue.