Bottom's up: Blue Jays open series at Yankees

Stats, LLC

NEW YORK -- April meant different things for the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees.

Projected to compete with the Boston Red Sox for American League East supremacy, the Blue Jays stumbled out of the gate and still are trying to recover.

Projected to be in the middle of the division, the Yankees followed up the best record in spring training by tying for the best record in the AL through the first month.

The disappointing Blue Jays and surprising New York get together for the first time this season Monday night in the opener of a three-game series at Yankee Stadium.

The Yankees (15-8) are off to their best start since 2010. They are 14-4 in their past 18 games, a run that started with a 7-3 comeback win at Baltimore on April 9.

"Nobody gets trophies for anything in April, but I'll take how we're playing right now," New York general manager Brian Cashman said before the Yankees' wild 7-4, 11-inning loss to the Orioles on Sunday. "I'll take the wins that are coming with it, especially when we have some of our key components down."

Those components include shortstop Didi Gregorius and catcher Gary Sanchez. Gregorius missed the first 20 games with a strained shoulder, while Sanchez has missed the past three weeks due to a strained biceps.

Gregorius went 7-for-15 in his first three games, including the game-tying single in the ninth Sunday. Sanchez will start a rehab assignment with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday, and he could return next weekend against the Chicago Cubs.

"I'm really pleased with how we started out of the gate," Cashman said. "It's not just the month. I remind people we came out of spring training with the best record in the entire game, and we followed that up with the best record in April. So I feel we got some momentum building, and hopefully we can add to it."

A year ago, the Yankees started 8-17, and only a strong surge in August and early September enabled them to finish with a winning record.

The Blue Jays are coming off consecutive appearances in the AL Championship Series after not reaching the postseason since their 1993 World Championship season. Toronto, however, is 8-17 after scoring three times in the eighth inning to take a 3-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday.

Jose Bautista hit the game-tying double and scored on Russell Martin's single in the finale against the Rays. Those hits raised Bautista's average to .178 (16-for-90) and Martin's average to .219 (14-for-64).

Until those hits, the Blue Jays nearly went the first month without getting a series win and consecutive victories.

"It's pretty amazing to go through a whole month without winning two in a row until the very end. In a lot of ways, that's hard to do," Toronto manager John Gibbons said.

If Toronto wound up losing, it would have been the first time since June 1981 that it did not win a series in a month, according to STATS, LLC.

The Blue Jays have scored three runs or fewer 12 times, and 12 of their losses came by two runs or fewer.

"We may be down, but we make a run at it every night," Gibbons said. "And they keep competing. I haven't seen a lack of effort. I've said many times, this group, as tough as things have been, and they've been real tough, they compete."

The Blue Jays have been attempting to get wins without shortstop Troy Tulowitzki (hamstring) and third baseman Josh Donaldson (strained right calf). Tulowitzki has yet to test his hamstring, while Donaldson recently started taking batting practice.

Luis Severino starts the series opener for the Yankees. He is 2-1 with a 3.00 ERA in four starts after allowing three hits in seven scoreless innings Wednesday in a 3-1 win at Fenway Park against the Boston Red Sox. He has totaled 27 of his 33 strikeouts in his past four starts.

In five appearances against Toronto, Severino is 0-2 with a 5.89 ERA. In his last start vs. the Blue Jays on Sept. 26 in Toronto, Severino was ejected for hitting Justin Smoak after also plunking Donaldson.

Marco Estrada starts for the Blue Jays and hopes for some better run support. He is 0-1 with a 2.70 ERA in five starts, as Toronto has scored just 13 runs for him. Six of those runs came when he allowed two runs and six hits over six innings in a no-decision last Tuesday during the Blue Jays' 6-5, 10-inning win at St. Louis.

Estrada is 3-2 with a 3.75 ERA in 10 appearances (nine starts) against New York.