August Mondays are often slow nights in baseball, as the league gives teams off days in the middle of the dog days. Just seven games were on last night’s schedule, and just two of the Yankees’ playoff rivals were on the field, as the Yankees handled the Mariners 9-4. With that in mind, we have a pretty short rivalry recap for you today.
Oh, Yusei Kikuchi.
The Jays have had a history of improving somewhat wayward starters over the past couple of years, but it seems that Pete Walker has been stumped by Kikuchi this year, who has been worth negative value and boasts an ERA and FIP over five, and an xFIP not far behind — even if he had bad home run luck this year, he’s still been just plain ol’ terrible,
Those home runs loomed large in the loss to Baltimore:
The Jays didn’t go down without a fight, as Matt Chapman added a home run of his own, part of a 2-3 night where he scored twice.