3 Takeaways From Blue Jays' Series Win Over Yankees

Questions about Toronto’s starting rotation didn’t make it to New York.

On the back of 20 near-spotless innings from Yusei Kikuchi, Alek Manoah, and Kevin Gausman, the Blue Jays handed the Yankees their first series loss of the season. Here are three takeaways from Toronto's series win in the Bronx:

1. Manoah Rights Ship

With two Yankees in scoring position and Aaron Judge in the box, Manoah was in trouble.

After catching Judge swinging over a slider and staring at a fastball, Manoah kicked up, drove forward, and released a spinning sinker careening to the inner half. The pitch pushed in on Judge's hands, shattered the slugger's bat, and induced an easy grounder to escape the third-inning jam on Saturday.

It was 2022 Manoah: slider whiffs, bat-breaking sinkers, and working out of trouble with ease. In his first four starts of 2023, the third-year starter struggled to repeat his Cy-Young-finalist form, with a 6.98 ERA and 15 walks.

On Saturday against the Yankees, he found it. Manoah spun seven shutout innings, allowing just three Yankee baserunners while striking out five. Crucially, he filled the strike zone. With shaky command through four starts, Manoah was unable to work deep into games and couldn't get opponents to chase his moving pitches. Against New York, he was in complete control, with 57 strikes on 85 pitches.

Alek Manoah, 94mph Two Seamer and 83mph Slider, Overlay pic.twitter.com/qUsR2H5skd
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 22, 2023

2. Vladdy Walks The Walk

Before the Bronx series, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. doubled down, echoing offseason comments saying he'd never play for the Yankees.

"That’s my decision and I will never change that,” Guerrero told the media, including Keegan Matheson.

New York's bleacher creatures didn't take too kindly to Guerrero's pre-series talk, booing him before every at-bat of the weekend set. Guerrero didn't seem to mind the jeers, mashing two homers and four hits across the three games. His 112.7 MPH liner in the Sunday rubber match departed the playing field in seconds and broke a 0-0 tie.

In 34 career games at Yankee Stadium, Guerrero Jr. has 12 homers, 20 RBI, and an OPS over. 960. The first baseman may not want to play home games there, but he loves the ballpark.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s 5th of the season to break the tie for the #BlueJays: pic.twitter.com/B7kYC9CKb2
— Keegan Matheson (@KeeganMatheson) April 23, 2023

3. Kikuchi's Quality

Before Manoah and Gausman's gems, Yusei Kikuchi got the series started with six clean innings of his own. The Friday outing earned Kikuchi consecutive quality starts for the first time as a Blue Jay and his first back-to-back QS since June 2021.

From a starter that baffled with inconsistency in 2022, Kikuchi's been one of Toronto's most reliable pitchers through 22 games. With a lone blip in Anahem, Kikuchi's allowed just one run in three of his four outings this year, lowering his season ERA to 3.80 on Friday.

When batters hit Kikuchi, the ball still tends to go far (six homers against), but he's avoided the big inning and self-inflicted damage. Last year, the lefty posted the highest walk rate of his career (5.2 BB/9) which led to 11 multi-run homers. In 2023, Kikuchi's rocking a career-best walk rate (2.1 BB/9), and four of his six homers against have been solo shots. When those solo homers are the only runs he allows, the quality starts come easy.