Nestor Cortes and the bullpen throw blanks as Yankees top Blue Jays

A few inches too high, a few inches to the left – that’s what it took for the Yankees to beat what has the potential to be the best team in the American League East.

Though their offense still isn’t producing the way they’d like, the Yankees Tuesday were able to rely on their pitching and a few fortunate breaks to turn aside the Blue Jays, 4-0 at the Stadium. First, Aaron Hicks hit a two-run homer to the short porch that was just a few inches too high to be reeled in by Teoscar Hernandez. And then, with runners on first and second, catcher Tyler Heineman attempted a pickoff throw that sailed just a little too far left of the bag, chasing a third run home. Giancarlo Stanton added a sacrifice fly in the eighth.

It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t perfect, but against a team they’ll face 19 times this year, they’ll more than take it.

Meanwhile, Nestor Cortes had a brilliant, though short, outing, and the bullpen – the real bright spot so far in this bright season – was up to the task of shutting down the Blue Jays' powerhouse lineup for 4 2/3 innings. The relief corps, which has had a significant workload as starters are still building themselves back up after the shortened spring training, came into the game having allowed just three runs in four games, a span of 22 2/3 innings. With Tuesday’s effort, which was composed of appearances by Clay Holmes, Miguel Castro, Jonathan Loaisiga and Aroldis Chapman, the bullpen ERA dropped to 0.99. 

The Blue Jays, who managed just five hits, only posed a real threat against Loaisiga in the eighth, when back-to-back two-out singles brought Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to the plate with the tying run, but Loaisiga got him to ground into a force out at second.

The Yankees got their whacks against Yusei Kikuchi in the first inning, they just didn’t amount to anything. A scorching line drive off the bat of Aaron Judge was caught at the wall by a leaping Lourdes Gurriel Jr. – a 363-foot out. Then, with Josh Donaldson on second, Anthony Rizzo hit a double off the wall, missing a home run by inches. Donaldson was originally held at third, but Hernandez bobbled the ball before throwing, prompting Donaldson to try to make it home. The delay at third, though, was too much to overcome and Hernandez’s throw home beat Donaldson by two strides.

Eventually, though, the Yankees made good on Kikuchi’s quest to basically give away runs. DJ LaMahieu hit a double to lead off the second and, one batter later, Hicks smacked a 2-and-0 slider down the middle 365 feet and right over Hernandez’s outstretched glove for an opposite field two-run homer, his first of the year. It was the first time this season that the Yankees scored a game’s opening runs, and the first lead they’ve had in the first five innings. It was also the first runs they’d scored in over 15 innings.

The Yankees tacked on another run in the fourth, when, with runners on first and second, and Gleyber Torres leaning away from the bag at first, Heineman tried to throw him out from the plate. The ball, though, veered far to the left of Guerrero, bouncing off the wall in foul territory and allowing LeMahieu to score from second, making it 3-0.

Cortes, meanwhile, cruised, building off the strong season he had last year, when he came into spring training a non-roster invitee and earned himself a spot in the bullpen by May and the rotation by July. He allowed no runs and three hits, with no walks and five strikeouts over 4 1/3 innings; the 72 pitches he threw were typical of the briefer outings the Yankees have asked of their starters after the lockout-delayed spring training.

By Laura Albanese

laura.albanese@newsday.com@AlbaneseLaura

Laura Albanese is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. She's been covering MLB since 2014 after starting at Newsday as an intern seven years earlier.