TORONTO – Pitching held up its end of the bargain, but the Toronto Blue Jays’ powerhouse lineup found an opposing starter it couldn’t knock around.
The result was the Blue Jays’ first losing streak since late July, a 4-1 defeat to the New York Yankees on Saturday afternoon that dropped them 1 1/2 games back in the American League East.
Marco Estrada allowed two solo home runs and just one other hit over six strong innings, extending the Blue Jays’ franchise-record streak of starting pitchers allowing three or fewer runs to 19 straight games.
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But Toronto’s hitters couldn’t get much going against Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka, who painted the corners of the plate in nine masterful innings of work. The Blue Jays had the bases loaded and no outs in the fifth but scored only one run.
Estrada didn’t make many mistakes on the mound, falling victim to the long ball that cost the Blue Jays in their 4-3 loss to the Yankees on Friday night. Carlos Beltran, who hit the game-winning three-run shot in that game, homered in his first at-bat against Estrada, and then Mark Teixeira went deep for his 31st of the season in the sixth.
Tanaka was brilliant in striking out eight and allowing just five hits in his longest outing of the season and his first complete game since June 28, 2014. The only run the Blue Jays scored off Tanaka came on a sacrifice fly by Josh Donaldson.
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