Yankees play the Blue Jays after Cole's strong showing
New York Yankees (35-32, third in the AL East) vs. Toronto Blue Jays (33-33, fourth in the AL East)
Buffalo, New York; Thursday, 7:07 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Yankees: Michael King (0-3, 3.77 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, 28 strikeouts) Blue Jays: T.J. Zeuch (0-2, 6.75 ERA, 1.92 WHIP, 6 strikeouts)
BOTTOM LINE: New York heads into the matchup fresh off a dominant performance by Gerrit Cole. Cole pitched eight innings, surrendering two runs on four hits with four strikeouts against Toronto.
The Blue Jays are 12-15 against AL East opponents. Toronto's team on-base percentage of .322 is third in the American League. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. leads the team with an OBP of .437.
The Yankees have gone 16-21 against division opponents. The New York pitching staff as a whole has an ERA of 3.55. Gerrit Cole leads the team with a 2.31 earned run average.
The Yankees won the last meeting 3-2. Cole earned his eighth victory and Gary Sanchez went 1-for-2 with a home run and two RBIs for New York. Ross Stripling took his fourth loss for Toronto.
TOP PERFORMERS: Guerrero Jr. leads the Blue Jays with 35 extra base hits and is batting .343.
DJ LeMahieu leads the Yankees with 66 hits and is batting .262.
LAST 10 GAMES: Blue Jays: 3-7, .269 batting average, 3.96 ERA, outscored opponents by eight runs
Yankees: 4-6, .259 batting average, 5.44 ERA, outscored by nine runs
INJURIES: Blue Jays: Kirby Yates: (tommy john surgery), David Phelps: (right lat), Tommy Milone: (shoulder), Julian Merryweather: (left oblique), Steven Matz: (covid-19), Tom Hatch: (elbow), Carl Edwards Jr.: (abdominal), A.J. Cole: (neck), Ryan Borucki: (forearm), George Springer: (quad), Alejandro Kirk: (left hip flexor), Danny Jansen: (hamstring).
Yankees: Justin Wilson: (hamstring), Luis Severino: (elbow), Clarke Schmidt: (right elbow), Darren O'Day: (right rotator cuff), Corey Kluber: (shoulder), Aaron Hicks: (left wrist), Luke Voit: (oblique).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.