TORONTO — As an early-season bonding moment, a 10-game winning streak beats a spring training billiards tournament by a mile.
With each victory, these Yankees – a 7-6 team less than two weeks ago – are learning more about trusting one another in tense situations.
“Close games are the ones that sometimes can get away from you,’’ said Jordan Montgomery, and Monday night’s close-and-late affair at Rogers Centre might have easily slipped from their grip.
Instead, the Yankees hung tough and found a route past the Toronto Blue Jays.
“It’s impressive – guys one-through-26 are contributing to that. It’s different guys every night,’’ said Chad Green, who saved Monday night’s 3-2 win.
Like the man said, it’s unsung players and unanticipated performances that have helped extend the Yankees’ victory march to 10 straight games.
First and 10
Filling in for Aroldis Chapman, who closed out the weekend wins at Kansas City, Green had a drama-free ninth inning for his first save.
A lot of solid defense happened, led by the Isiah Kiner-Falefa at shortstop, Gleyber Torres – more on him in a moment – at second base and an extra-base saving catch by…Giancarlo Stanton?
More:Yankees’ defensive improvements over 2021 have already made a difference
Yes, these days Stanton gets as many corner outfield starts as DH appearances, and he robbed Matt Chapman of a second-inning double with a leaping grab against the right field wall.
Jonathan Loaisiga induced a key double play to end the sixth.
Clay Holmes did his fearless setup work through the eighth, and Torres – who drove in all three runs – produced the go-ahead RBI single in the ninth.
All told, it was the first-place Yankees’ most significant win of a streak that began on April 22.
From spring training:Giancarlo Stanton on hopes of playing the outfield in 2022
Extra emphasis
After all, these are the Blue Jays, with that youthful, fearsome lineup and enough pitching to win the AL East.
This Yankees streak was built on the backs of the Guardians, Orioles and Royals, and the good vibes began with a series win against the Tigers – all of them sub-.500 teams.
Toronto had just won nine of its last 12 games, all coming against the Astros or Red Sox.
“If we’re to get to where we want to go, this is one of the teams we’ll have to go through,’’ manager Aaron Boone said earlier Monday.
Afterward, Boone wasn’t buying the narrative that Yankees 3, Blue Jays 2 was anything more than “a good win against a really good team’’ in early May, before nearly 19,000 fans.
A couple of miles down the way, the Toronto Maple Leafs were in a playoff game.
So, it wasn’t exactly an October atmosphere under the Rogers Centre roof as Gleyber Torres slammed a two-run homer in the fourth off Ross Stripling and Bo Bichette and company came back to tie it, 2-2, off Montgomery in the bottom of the inning.
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A winning strategy
Of course, the Yankees were done scoring for Montgomery.
Since Opening Day 2021, the lefty is among the top five of qualified MLB starters who have received the worst run support.
“Not really,” Montgomery said of whether that weighs on him when he takes the mound. “I think I’d be pretty selfish to think like that.”
On the offensive side, Torres – already benched during non-productive stretches in April – has stuck to his spring training approach of going the other way.
His homer and go-ahead single – sending home pinch-runner Tim Locastro, after a key steal of second base – were both driven to right.
“Last year, I pull the ball too much; too many groundballs,’’ Torres said. “This year, just try to be more focused on the opposite way.’’
And one more thing.
“If they don’t throw me anything to hit, I know the guy behind me can do the job,’’ Torres said. “That makes (my) job easy.’’
Early victory
Anyway, the gang was all here, ending whatever speculation remained about unvaccinated-for-COVID Yankees’ stars being unable to cross into Canada.
Boone said he’d “had some conversations at times with guys, just kind of leave it at that,’’ regarding their status, and presumably the potential for missing nine games against a huge division rival.
“I feel strongly that (it’s) very much a personal choice,’’ Boone said. “And certainly, whatever happened, I was going to respect whatever choice anyone made in that regard.’’
Now, the most important personnel question is the status of Joey Gallo (tight left groin), who was available only in an emergency Monday.
That situation never arrived. The winning streak is at 10.
Pete Caldera is the Yankees beat writer for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to all Yankees analysis, news, trades and more, please subscribe today and download our app.
Email: [email protected] Twitter: @pcaldera
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism