DUNEDIN, Florida – Kyle Higashioka was behind the plate on Monday, mainly because of how well he works with Gerrit Cole.
And while the battery was again excellent against the Blue Jays, Higashioka had just as much impact with his bat, hitting a pair of homers that propelled the Yankees to a 3-1 victory at TD Ballpark .
Higashioka won a two-run shot in the top fifth to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead and then added an insurance run with a mammoth shot to the left, which led to eighth left Ryan Borucki and made it 3-1.
“We know about his strength,” said Aaron Boone of Higashioka, who played a three-man game against the Blue Jays on September 16. “It simply came to our notice then. Obviously, I needed every piece of it. ”
“It’s closed,” Cole said. “He is a tough guy to play right now. Bright red. “
Higashioka said the same about Cole, who finished strong.
“The most satisfying part is after a hard first half or two, he calmed down and went into a ditch,” said Higashioka.
The Blue Jays threatened in the eighth, getting a pair of two base runners against Darren O’Day, but O’Day made Vladimir Guerrero Jr. swing to end the half.
Meanwhile, Higashioka and Cole continued to work magic together, as Cole followed his most dominant Yankee start in his previous outing, with another excellent performance that ended with the right withdrawing the last 15 beats he faced.
Boone said Higashioka would not necessarily be Cole’s “full-time” catcher, but “he will catch him a lot.” Boone added that Gary Sanchez will catch Cole occasionally.
Cole overcame the first two innings trembling.
“I think he gets a little annoyed if things don’t go the way he wants them to,” Higashioka said. “He is never satisfied with anything less than zeroing in.”
And the Yankees shook a first four slow innings against Toronto left-hander Robbie Ray.
Ray, in his debut of the season, after spending the first part of the year on the injured list with a bruised elbow suffered during spring training, did not allow a shot until the hard ground of Rougned Odor passed the first base, with one in the fifth.
Higashioka then hit twice in the center right to give the Yankees a 2-1 score.
Prior to that, the walks of Gleyber Torres and Clint Frazier in the third and Aaron Judge in the fourth were the Yankees’ only base runners.
The Blue Jays reached Cole at the bottom of the first.
Bo Bichette hit a single sharp single from the right side of the field and Guerrero followed with a slower field, which also went through the right side, this time partly due to the change.
He sent Bichette into third place, and he scored on a Randal Grichuk field to give Toronto a 1-0 lead.
Cole quickly woke up with problems in the second, with a walk to Lourdes Gurriel Jr. followed by a line in the middle by Rowdy Tellez. But Cole straightened up and hit the next three beats to maintain a one-run game, but was on 43 pitches through two frames.
Her right hand turned into an overdrive and she was gorgeous the rest of the way, mowing Blue Jays in the process.
The Yankees handed it to their bullpen, which brought a 10-round scoreless streak on Monday. Justin Wilson threw a seventh without a score.
O’Day withdrew the first two beats in eight, before Marcus Semien joined on the left and Bo Bichette went on four yards to bring Guerrero, who dismissed.
“I made her a little more interesting than she was [should] they were, “O’Day said.
Aroldis Chapman gave up a double in front of Grichuk in the ninth, but made Cavan Biggio, Gurriel and Tellez win the first save of the year.
The throw made another light that shows the offense standing up.