NEW YORK – Eager to see their pennant-contending team for the first time in over a year, Yankees fans arrived excited and left disappointed.
After wasting some late scoring chances, the Yankees watched the Toronto Blue Jays score a 3-2, 10-inning win at Yankee Stadium before 10,850 fans.
The ballpark is at 20 percent capacity for now, following a season without any paying customers due to the pandemic.
They cheered Gary Sanchez, whose two-run homer off lefty starter Hyun Jin Ryu gave the Yanks a 2-1 lead in the second inning.
But in the 10th, Randal Grichuk’s double to deep right scored pinch-runner Jonathan Davis – placed on second base to begin the extra inning – with the go-ahead run off reliever Nick Nelson.
Hearing the crowd pulling for him for the first time in pinstripes, Yankees ace Gerrit Cole lasted 5.1 innings and yielded two runs.
Cole exited at 97 pitches with the score tied 2-2 following Teoscar Hernandez’s game-tying, solo homer with one out in the sixth.
The Yankees put their leadoff man on base in the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth innings and did not score. And they couldn’t advance Aaron Judge, who began the home 10th on second base, as Julian Merryweather struck out Aaron Hicks, Giancarlo Stanton (0-for-5) and Gleyber Torres to end it.
Batting with the bases loaded in the seventh, Judge grounded into an inning-ending double play against ex-Yankees right-hander David Phelps.
And to end the ninth, Jordan Romano struck out Judge with the winning run on second base.
It was a frustrating ninth for the Yankees, who saw pinch-runner Mike Tauchman get to third base with one out after stealing both second and third.
But Tauchman was gunned down at the plate on Clint Frazier’s grounder to third baseman Cavan Biggio before Judge (1-for-5) was retired.
Boone made his annual preseason address a day earlier, and “I think everything that needed to be said was said.’’
That included short speeches by some coaches and players and an inspiring video mentioned by Luke Voit and DJ LeMahieu, who added that “sticking together’’ was a team theme.
As team leaders, Judge and Brett Gardner are high-profile clubhouse voices, while veterans Darren O’Day and Jay Bruce have already gained the respect of their new teammates.
Coming off “a really good and focused spring training,’’ Boone said that his club knows “what we’re out to try and accomplish.
“As I’ve said, this is a hungry group with the right frame of mind,’’ Boone said before the game. “And now, we get to find out how good we are, starting today.’’