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NEW YORK — Julian Merryweather had to get used to fans in the stands, having debuted last summer in an empty ballpark. He was surprised the 10th inning started with a runner on second.
No matter. The Toronto Blue Jays turned Yankee Stadium as silent as it was during a 2020 season played without fans.
Randal Grichuk led off the 10th with an RBI double, Merryweather struck out the side on 11 pitches in the bottom half, and the Blue Jays took advantage of the second year of COVID-era rule starting starting extra innings with a runner on to beat New York 3-2 Thursday in the major league opener.
“It was definitely weird,” Merryweather said. “I asked a few people: What are all these people doing here? Who are these people? But it was great to have fans again.. … the moment itself, being in Yankee Stadium was pretty surreal. That’s like Little League dreams right there.”
Merryweather felt energy from the fans. But he didn’t realize the runner on second in extras rule returned until bullpen coach Matt Buschmann told him.
“I forgot,” Merryweather recalled. “Oh God, there’s going to be a runner on second.”
He fanned Aaron Hicks and Giancarlo Stanton on three pitches each, started Gleyber Torres with two strikes, then threw a ball and got a foul before getting him to swing past a 99 mph offering.
“I’m definitely calling my mom,” the 29-year-old right-hander said. “She’s probably called me five times freaking out.”
Merryweather was acquired in the 2018 trade that sent star third baseman Josh Donaldson to Cleveland. Now with Minnesota, Donaldson left the Twins’ season opener with hamstring tightness on Thursday.
Teoscar Hernández tied the score in the sixth inning with a 437-foot homer on a hanging slider from Yankees ace Gerrit Cole, whose parents were in the crowd to watch him in person in at Yankee Stadium for the first time with New York.
“I just want that slider back,” said Cole, who slapped his glove against the bench four times after he came out.
Fans had not been at Yankee Stadium for 532 days since the loss to Houston in Game 5 of the AL Championship Series on Oct. 18, 2019. They had to show proof of complete vaccination at least two weeks earlier or a recent negative COVID-19 test. Masks were required, and groups were separated by empty seats into pods.
“Obviously it didn’t end the way you want to where you’re shaking hands, but it definitely was special having a crowd back,’” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Even though we’re 20% capacity, you could feel their energy and feel them waiting to erupt.”
Attendance was announced as 10,850. Before its first homestand at its spring training ballpark in Dunedin, Florida — the Canadian government won’t allow the Blue Jays to play at home due to coronavirus restrictions — Toronto plays Monday in the home opener of Texas, the only big league ballpark allowed 100% capacity at the season’s start.
“That’s going to be exciting because we all are going to feel normal playing the game that we love,” Hernández said. “Getting fans back on the field as it was three, four years ago, it makes us really good because the game is going back to normal.”
Cole, starting the second season of his $324 million, nine-year deal, allowed two runs and five hits in 5 1/3 innings with eight strikeouts and two starts. He fell behind on Lourdes Gurriel Jr.’s RBI single in the second.
Toronto’s Hyun Jin Ryu gave up four hits in 5 1/3 innings, including Gary Sánchez’s two-run homer in the second.
David Phelps escaped a bases-loaded jam in the seventh by getting Aaron Judge to ground into an inning-ending double play.
Jordan Romano of Markham, Ont., (1-0) escaped trouble in the ninth with the help of third baseman Cavan Biggio. After pinch-runner Michael Tauchman stole two bases, he was thrown out at the plate by Biggio trying to score on a grounder by AL batting champion DJ LeMahieu. Romano struck out Judge to strand two runners.
Nick Nelson (0-1) relieved to begin the 10th and with pinch-runner Jonathan Davis on second, allowed Grichuk’s double.
On an afternoon with a game time temperature of 43 degrees, the Yankees played their first extra-innings opener since 1987.
A reduced group of Bleacher Creatures shouted the Roll Call from the right-field seats in the top of the first, and first baseman Jay Bruce raised his right arm in a spirited response. Cole turned to the bleachers to survey the scene when Biggio’s foul ball provided a momentary break.
“Having that buzz, having the energy back in the Stadium was something special,” Judge said. “I was talking with a couple guys, talking with the umpires, everybody missed it. Those fans, that energy, that makes the game.”
A fan tried to grab the ball from Judge’s glove when he caught Rowdy Tellez’s foul fly for the final out of the ninth.
“It’s their first game back at the Stadium, in a long time,” Judge said. “So I’ll give them that one.”
100
Toronto’s Charlie Montoyo got his 100th win as a manager league manager.
MOVING ACROSS THE DIAMOND
Marcus Semien, making his Blue Jays’ debut, made a diving stop in his first game at second base since Sept. 26, 2014, and threw out LeMahieu for the final out of the fifth with two on.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Yankees 1B Luke Voit used a cane during the introductions following knee surgery Monday.
UP NEXT
RHP Corey Kluber, a two-time AL Cy Young Award winner limited to one inning during the last two seasons due to injuries, makes his Yankees debut Saturday. RHP Ross Stripling starts for the Blue Jays.
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Ronald Blum, The Associated Press