Tepesch set for Blue Jays debut vs. Yankees

TORONTO -- The Toronto Blue Jays again must go to their Triple-A Buffalo affiliate for a starter.

This time, it will be Nick Tepesch. He will get the call to replace Cesar Valdez, who was scheduled to make the start Wednesday against the New York Yankees. Valdez, 32, who also has spent most of the season at Triple-A, was placed on the disabled list Tuesday due to a right shoulder impingement.

The Yankees appear to be in a good position to win the second game of the three-game series at the Rogers Centre when they send out Masahiro Tanaka.

The Blue Jays won the opener of the series Tuesday night 4-2 behind a pair of two-run homers by Josh Donaldson and the starting pitching of J.A. Happ.

"We just never got the hits when we needed them tonight, and that was the difference," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.

The Blue Jays are 18-27 against the American League East this season, but are 6-5 against the Yankees.

However, Tanaka (8-10, 4.93 ERA) is 2-0 with a 3.38 ERA in two starts against Toronto this season. He is 8-3 with a 2.52 ERA in 12 career starts against the Blue Jays.

Tepesch (0-1, 5.40 ERA) has made one major league start this season, allowing five hits and seven runs (one earned) in 1 2/3 innings for the Minnesota Twins against the Boston Red Sox on May 6.

The 28-year-old was sold by the Twins to the Blue Jays on July 24 and was assigned to Buffalo, where he went 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA in three games (two starts).

Tepesch is 9-19 with a 4.69 ERA in 44 career major league games (41 starts). He has made one career appearance against the Yankees, allowing three hits and one run in one-third of an inning.

The Yankees' rotation took a jolt in the series opener when CC Sabathia left after three innings with a sore right knee. He allowed two home runs to Donaldson.

"I thought he had a little bit of a limp coming off the field," Girardi said. "He's actually going to go home (Wednesday) and see the doctor. It's not what you want, but it's what happened. When he came off, he said he was feeling it every pitch, and that's why I pulled him."

From the Blue Jays' side, there was encouragement to take from the perfect ninth inning thrown by closer Roberto Osuna, who earned his 29th save of the season. Two days earlier in Houston, Osuna allowed four ninth-inning runs to the Astros to not only blow the save but the game. It was his third blown save in nine days, although in that span he also had two saves.

If Osuna is back on form, then it could have an impact of the rest of the series.

"No doubt Osuna's been in a little bit of a rut," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said, "so that was a big one for him tonight. He's feeling good, we're feeling good. We played a good ballgame."

Donaldson has been hot recently, and the Blue Jays hope that he can continue that. His two home runs give him six in his past 10 games. He has 15 homers for the season and seven have come in the first inning, including a two-run shot Tuesday.

"It's hard to hit two home runs in a game, (but) we've seen him do it before," Gibbons said. "He's had his struggles this year, the ups and downs, things like that, but every time he steps in the box, something good could happen."