A pair of teams from the AL East continue a series on the diamond north of the border in search of a victory. The New York Yankees are on the road as they play the middle game of a three-game set with the Toronto Blue Jays Tuesday night. New York swept a four-game series from Boston at home as they won the finale of the set 2-0 in a game shortened to six innings Sunday night. Toronto split a four-game series with the Rays on the road as they earned a 7-1 victory on Sunday afternoon in the finale of that set. This article was published prior to the conclusion of the series opener at Rogers Centre Monday night.
New York, after a dreadful August and start of September, has found their mojo again as the season winds down. The Yankees swept the Red Sox at home in a four-game set, running their win streak to seven and leaving them with an 8.5-game lead on the Blue Jays for the division lead entering Monday night. They had a magic number of one to clinch the division title and are pretty much locked in for the second seed in the American League playoff field. On Sunday night, Oswald Peraza had two of the Yankees’ six hits while Jose Trevino knocked in the lone run they would need with a RBI single in the second inning. Nelson Cortes Jr. (11-4) earned the win as he threw a rain-shortened complete game shutout, working six innings, allowing no runs on one hit with two walks and five strikeouts.
Jameson Taillon is on the mound for the Bronx Bombers as he makes his 31st start of the season in this contest. He comes in 13-5 with a 3.90 ERA, a 1.122 WHIP, 30 walks and 140 strikeouts over 164 innings of work. Taillon didn’t factor in the decision in his last start, which came Thursday at home against the Red Sox. He threw six innings, allowing no runs on four hits with one walk and eight strikeouts in a game the Yankees eventually won 5-4 in 10 innings. In his last three starts, Taillon has a 1-1 record with a 3.44 ERA, a 0.98 WHIP, four walks and 20 strikeouts over 18.1 innings of work. Taillon makes his 10th career start against the Blue Jays in this one. He comes in 4-4 with a 3.72 ERA, a 1.152 WHIP, eight walks and 44 strikeouts over 46 innings of work in those contests. Taillon is 3-0 with a 1.80 ERA, a 1.00 WHIP, four walks and 21 strikeouts over 20 innings over four career starts at Rogers Centre.