NEW YORK (AP) — Max Fried won his fifth straight start, Austin Wells capped a six-run third inning with a three-run double off suddenly wild Kevin Gausman and the New York Yankees routed the Toronto Blue Jays 11-2 on Sunday in a doubleheader opener.
Fried (5-0) allowed a first-inning RBI groundout and six hits in six innings. He has given up one run over 20 2/3 innings in three starts following Yankees losses, and New York has won all six of his starts.
Anthony Volpe homered off Paxton Schultz, and Oswaldo Cabrera drove in a pair of runs with one of the Yankees’ six doubles.
Gausman (2-3) threw 53 pitches in the third, getting just two outs and walking five — one shy of his career high for a game. Cody Bellinger hit a sacrifice fly, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Volpe forced in runs with consecutive walks and Wells doubled off the right-center wall for a 6-1 lead.
Gausman was ejected by plate umpire Chris Conroy as he walked to the dugout when he was removed after 2 2/3 innings. Toronto manager John Schneider was tossed two innings later for arguing a called strike from Fried to Guerrero.
Gausman threw the most pitches by anyone in an inning since Pittsburgh’s Cam Vieaux’s 56 in an eight-run eighth against Milwaukee on July 1, 2022, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Gausman threw seven pitches to Cabrera, eight to Bellinger and nine each to Volpe and Wells.
Ben Rice caught for the first time this year when moved by the Yankees from DH to behind the plate in the ninth inning.
Key moment
Wells fouled off an 0-2 fastball and a pair of full-count fastballs before doubling on another fastball.
Key stat
Playing a day after his 33rd birthday, Yankees slugger Aaron Judge went 2 for 4 and raised his major league-leading batting average to .412.
Up next
Yankees RHP Clarke Schmidt (0-1, 7.45 ERA) and Blue Jays RHP Chris Bassitt (2-1, 1.88) were scheduled to start the second game.
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