Blue Jays overtakes Yankees to grab the No. 2 spot in AL East

Who would call them weak? The Toronto Blue Jays has risen to second place in American League (AL) East in Major League Baseball (MLB). The Blue Jays defeated the Boston Red Sox 10-8 on Sunday local time after exchanging 25 hits at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. Ending its two-game losing streak, the Blue Jays (22-18) rose to No. 2 spot in AL East after tying for second with the New York Yankees (21-19) for three days. The Yankees lost to the Orioles 1-5 on the same day, slipping to the third spot. The Blue Jays are 5.5 games behind Al East-leading Tampa Bay (28-13), where Choi Ji-man is playing for.

The Blue Jays and the Yankees will have a three-game series from Monday to Wednesday, where they will vie for the No. 1 spot in AL East. If one of them wins in a row, the team will push the other to the third place and gain the momentum to chase the lead.

Blue Jays’ pitcher Ryu Hyun-jin will start for the first game of the series on Monday local time. With a 2.51 ERA this season, the South Korean showed a stellar performance during the five games in August, recoding 2-0 with a 0.96 ERA. Ryu currently stands at No. 4 in AL East in terms of ERA after pitching six innings with a one-run ball against the Miami Marlins in his first start in September. After losing to the Orioles, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said that he is worried about tomorrow’s game against the Blue Jays, where Ryu will start.

Jordan Montgomery will start for the Yankees on Monday. He has recorded 2-2 with a 5.76 ERA in six starts this season. Montgomery was pulled in first inning after allowing four runs to the Tampa Bay Rays in his previous start on Wednesday last week. “The Yankees, who will play 10 against the Blue Jays in the next 18 days, are currently sitting outside the playoffs top six seeds and clinging to a Wild Card spot,” wrote New York Daily News, igniting the rivalry between the two. The Yankees, which has a reputation as one of the strongest in MLB, hurt its pride. Eyes are on whether the Blue Jays, which signed Ryu to a four-year, 80-million-dollar contract last winter, will be able to make good use of the Korean left-hander and gain the upper hand in their competition against the Yankees.


Bae-Jung Kim wanted@donga.com