Randal Grichuk had himself a day on Saturday.
The right fielder hit a home run in the second and third innings to help jump start Toronto's bats in its 8-7 win against the New York Yankees on Saturday.
Grichuk's first home run came at the top the second inning against Yankee starter C.C. Sabathia. Grichuk drove the first pitch he saw, an 87 mph (miles per hour) pitch, to left center field to give the Blue Jays a 1-0 lead. His home run landed 428 feet from home plate.
The Blue Jays tacked on two more runs in the second with Aledmys Diaz and Lourder Gurriel Jr. hitting one-run singles with two outs.
Grichuk carried the damage into the third inning. On the fifth pitch of the at bat, Grichuk took an 88 mph pitch from Sabathia and drove it to the left field bleachers at Yankee Stadium, giving the Blue Jays a 4-0 lead and Grichuk his 23rd homer of the season.
That home run was the front-end of back-to-back shots as Kevin Pillar took Sabathia deep in the next at-bat. Pillar's line drive shot down the left field line gave the Blue Jays a 5-0 lead and ended Sabathia's afternoon.
Randal Grichuk is having himself a day.
His second homer of the day and Kevin Pillar's home run right after gave the #BlueJays a 5-0 lead.
The Blue Jays got a good outing from their starter, Sean Reid-Foley. The 23-year-old pitched five innings, giving up two hits and four walks, striking out 10 Yankees and allowed no runs.
Despite the strong performance from Reid-Foley and the strong showing from their lineup, the Blue Jays still found themselves in some trouble.
Holding an 8-1, the Blue Jays gave up six runs in the seventh inning that made it an 8-7 game.
Giancarlo Stanton started off the bottom frame with a solo shot off of reliever Ryan Tepera.
Danny Barnes came in for Tepera after that at-bat, striking out Aaron Hicks but allowed a solo home run to Didi Gregorius to make it 8-3. The home run was Gregorius' second of the day as he hit one in the sixth inning.
Barnes got a second out but allowed a double to Gleyber Torres and a walk to Neil Walker, prompting the Blue Jays to call in Tyler Clippard for relief.
In the first batter he face, Clippard walked Luke Voit, loading up the bases for Miguel Andujar. On the first pitch, Andujar took Clippard deep, hitting a grand slam to left center that cut the Blue Jays lead to one.
However, Clippard got out of the inning without further damage, striking out Andrew McCutchen in the next at-bat.
Both teams' bullpens held the rest of the way, sealing the Blue Jays' 8-7 victory.