Dylan Cease gets the ball Sunday with a chance to do more than finish off a sweep. For the Toronto Blue Jays, the right-hander can help turn a strong weekend into a real push in the American League wild-card chase.
Toronto has already handled the New York Yankees in the first two games of the series, winning 3-1 on Friday and 4-1 on Saturday. That set up a finale in which the Blue Jays can complete a three-game sweep and keep tightening the race for the third AL wild card. Toronto enters the day just a half-game back.
Cease, a Cy Young Award candidate, brings a 7-5 record and a 2.40 ERA into the start. The matchup also comes with a warning for New York: the Yankees have been stuck at .203 at the plate since the All-Star break.
Still, the Yankees have reason to believe they can at least make this one uncomfortable. Cease has struggled against them in his career, going 1-3 with a 5.84 ERA in seven appearances, all of them starts. He also has one start against New York this season, when he went 1-0 but posted a 9.00 ERA.
New York will counter with Ryan Weathers, who has had his own issues against Toronto. The left-hander is 5-7 with a 3.69 ERA overall, but he’s 1-1 with a 6.75 ERA in three career starts against the Blue Jays. Two of those came this season, and he’s 0-1 with a 10.24 ERA in those outings.
Saturday’s loss was a messy one for the Yankees. Toronto used seven pitchers to hold New York to four hits, and the Yankees’ only run came in the second inning against Ricky Tiedemann, who was making his major league debut.
Aaron Boone pointed to the lineup as one possible fix, saying, "Maybe shake up the order a little bit here and there."
His club’s problems went beyond the box score. Cam Schlittler, New York’s Cy Young candidate, was left with a no-decision after giving up one run in 5 1/3 innings. The Yankees also hurt themselves on the bases, with George Lombard Jr. failing to slide into second to avoid the tag on the second half of a double play, and Heliot Ramos not running hard to first on a bobbled sixth-inning groundout.
The bigger issue was how little followed the second inning. New York managed just two singles after that point.
"Broken record," Boone said. "Obviously, we know we've got to be better.
This is who we've got. These are our guys, and I continue to believe wholeheartedly, looking at these names, all capable of doing really big things for us.
But we've got to go do it. We can talk all about that, but we've got to go make it happen."
Toronto, meanwhile, has opened its seven-game homestand by winning three of four from the Boston Red Sox and then taking the first two from New York. John Schneider said he liked the way his team has handled division opponents at home.
"I like the fact that we've won the last two series at home against division opponents," Schneider said. "There's still a whole lot of baseball to go, and there's so much action going on with five or six teams. Just keep the foot on the gas and keep trying to stack wins."
The Blue Jays are doing it without Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who landed on the seven-day concussion injured list Saturday after a collision at third base on Friday. In his place, Charles McAdoo has given Toronto a spark at first base. He doubled in the go-ahead run in the seventh inning Saturday and later added an RBI single in the eighth.
Schneider praised the versatility and energy McAdoo brings.
"We like his profile," Schneider said. "He can play anywhere on the corners, in the outfield, and he's got a lot of energy."
Ernie Clement also helped set the table, singling to open the seventh before scoring on McAdoo’s go-ahead hit. For Schneider, that kind of contribution fits the way the roster is built.
"It's going to take everybody," Schneider said. "You're trying to create some traffic and get the big hit. (It is) how this roster is built, guys knowing when they're going to be in there, knowing what they're going to be asked to do and then not trying to do anything other than that."
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