TORONTO (AP) — Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton had their chance.
When both big sluggers came up empty, the New York Yankees’ leaky bullpen failed to get them another one.
New York trailed by two runs and had the bases loaded with nobody out as Judge stepped to the plate against Toronto Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman in the sixth inning of their AL Division Series opener Saturday.
But what looked like a prime opportunity soon fizzled, and the Yankees’ shaky relief corps couldn’t keep the game close after that as New York lost 10-1.
Gausman struck out Judge on a 3-2 splitter for the first out of the sixth.
“That’s a huge, huge strikeout obviously to (a guy) who is going to be the MVP of the league, probably,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said.
Cody Bellinger followed with a walk, forcing in New York’s lone run, but Gausman finished his outing by getting Ben Rice to pop out.
Louis Varland came on and struck out Stanton on four pitches, ending the at-bat with a 101 mph fastball.
“Varland executed a good heater to G that he was late on,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Just weren’t able to punch through like we needed to in an inning where we had a chance to have a big one.”
Gausman was full of praise for Varland, who joined Toronto in a deadline deal from Minnesota.
“You’ve kind of seen him take his game to another level when he needs to,” Gausman said. “That was one of the greatest trades we’ve ever made.”
Judge went 2 for 4 with a single and a double Saturday, making him the only Yankees player to reach base more than once. He reached safely in five of 12 plate appearances in the Wild Card Series win over Boston, going 4 for 11 with an RBI.
Stanton went 0 for 4 on Saturday and has just one hit this postseason.
While Toronto’s bullpen sparkled in Game 1, with four pitchers combining on 3 1/3 scoreless innings, New York’s relievers didn’t fare so well. After starter Luis Gil exited with two outs in the third, five Yankees pitchers allowed eight runs and 10 hits in 5 1/3 innings.
Luke Weaver didn’t retire any of the three batters he faced, leaving after Andrés Giménez’s RBI single through a drawn-in infield. Weaver has not retired any of the six batters he has faced this postseason.
The one bright spot for New York’s bullpen Saturday was right-hander Camilo Doval. He provided two scoreless innings on just 20 pitches.
“That was really efficient, really good,” Boone said, adding he hopes to have Doval available in Game 2 of the best-of-five series on Sunday.
