Yankees at Blue Jays
Sonny Gray's debut with the New York Yankees didn't take long to go off the rails, thanks in large part to three first-inning errors by his new teammates. The 27-year-old looks to get back on track Thursday as the visiting Yankees play the rubber match of their three-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.
Gray would welcome a better defensive effort than the one he received last time, or a repeat of Wednesday's offensive uprising as Yankees saw rookie Garrett Cooper erupt for four of his team's 17 hits in the 11-5 victory. Todd Frazier homered among his three hits and scored four times in that contest and has gone deep twice among his five career hits versus Thursday starter Marco Estrada. New York remained four games behind American League East-leading Boston while clinging to the top wild-card spot and Toronto has dropped three of five to make itself comfortable in the division's cellar. Jose Bautista, who is 6-for-15 with one homer and four RBIs in his career versus Gray, went deep on Wednesday to extend his hitting streak to five games and run-scoring stretch to four.
TV: 7:07 p.m. ET, YES (New York), Sportsnet (Toronto)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Yankees RH Sonny Gray (6-6, 3.41 ERA) vs. Blue Jays RH Marco Estrada (4-7, 5.12)
Gray was able to overcome the first-inning meltdown by his teammates and limited the damage to four runs (two earned) on four hits in six frames of a 5-1 setback at Cleveland. The Vanderbilt product allowed four runs (all unearned) in his last start with Oakland on July 25 - against Toronto, no less - although he was to blame for a pair of errant tosses that led to a four-run second inning. Despite his struggles, Gray owns a 4-3 mark with a 1.59 ERA in his last seven starts.
Estrada recorded his third straight no-decision and saw his winless stretch extend to 12 outings on Saturday despite yielding three runs over seven innings at Houston. The 34-year-old, who hasn't tasted victory since May 27, pitched well in one outing versus New York before getting blasted in two others. After permitting one run in seven innings of a 7-1 triumph over the Yankees on May 1, Estrada was blitzed for seven runs in 3 2/3 frames of a 12-2 shellacking on June 1 and six runs across 4 2/3 innings of a no-decision on July 5.
WALK-OFFS
1. New York SS Didi Gregorius is 11-for-22 during his five-game hitting streak.
2. Toronto 3B Josh Donaldson is 3-for-6 with two homers, five RBIs and two runs scored in the series.
3. Yankees RF Aaron Judge is 0-for-7 with three strikeouts in the series.