DUNEDIN, Fla. – Kyle Higashioka was mainly behind the plate on Monday because of his good cooperation with Gerrit Cole.
And while the battery was excellent again against the Blue Jays, Higashioka impressed just as much with his bat, a pair of homers that took the Yankees to a 3-1 victory in TD Ballpark.
Higashioka hit a two-run shot in the top of the fifth to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead, then added an insurance run with a giant left shot on the way to eighth off left wing Ryan Borucki to make it 3 -1.
“We know of his power,” Aaron Boone said of Higashioka, who had a three-homer game against the Blue Jays last September 16. “He demonstrated that last year. We clearly needed all of it.”
“He’s locked up,” Cole said. ‘He’s a tough guy to throw at right now. Red hot. “
Higashioka said the same of Cole, who finished strong.
“The most satisfying part is that after a tough first inning or two, he calmed down and got into a groove,” said Higashioka.
The Blue Jays threatened in the eighth and got a pair of baserunners with two outs against Darren O’Day, but O’Day got Vladimir Guerrero Jr. swinging to end the inning.
In the meantime, Higashioka and Cole continued to work magic together, as Cole followed his most dominant start as Yankee in his previous outing with another excellent performance that ended by eliminating the last 15 batters he faced.
Boone said Higashioka wouldn’t necessarily be Cole’s “full-time” catcher, but “he’ll catch him a lot.” Boone added that Gary Sanchez would still catch Cole from time to time.
Cole overcame a shaky first two innings.
“I think he gets a little pissed off when things don’t go the way he wants,” Higashioka said. “He’s never satisfied with anything other than posting zeros.”
And the Yankees shook off a slow first four innings against Toronto-lefthanded Robbie Ray.
Ray, in his season debut after being on the injured list for the first part of the year with a bruised elbow sustained in spring practice, didn’t allow a hit until Rougned Odor’s hard grounder past first base with one out in the fifth.
Higashioka then hit a two-run homer to right-center to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead.
Before that, Gleyber Torres and Clint Frazier walked in the third and Aaron Judge in the fourth were the lone runners of the Yankees.
The Blue Jays got to Cole in the bottom of the first.
Bo Bichette hit a sharp one-out single through the right side of the infield and Guerrero followed with a slower grounder that also came through the right side, this time partly due to the shift.
It sent Bichette to third base and he scored on a grounder by Randal Grichuk too short to give Toronto an 1-0 lead.
Cole soon found himself in trouble again in the second, with a leadoff walk to Lourdes Gurriel Jr. followed by a liner in the center by Rowdy Tellez. But Cole straightened himself and struckout the next three batters to keep it a one-run game, but was on 43 pitches via two frames.
The right-hander switched to overdrive and was fantastic the rest of the way, mowing the Blue Jays in the process.
The Yankees handed it over to their bullpen, which led to a 10-inning scoreless streak on Monday. Justin Wilson threw a scoreless seventh.
O’Day retired the first two batters in the eighth, before Marcus Semien singled to the left and Bo Bichette walked on four pitches to pick up Guerrero, who batted.
“I’ve made it a bit more exciting than it [should] have been, ” said O’Day.
Aroldis Chapman gave up a leadoff double to Grichuk in the ninth, but then saw Cavan Biggio, Gurriel and Tellez earn his first save of the year.
Shedding raised a different light from the offense.