TORONTO – A remarkable first-inning ambush of Will Warren seemingly positioned the Toronto Blue Jays to cruise into a share of top spot in the American League East.
Five batters in they led 5-0, thanks to a two-run single from Alejandro Kirk and a three-run shot by Addison Barger. Davis Schneider — starting against a righty in part because he was 4-for-8 with a homer and two doubles versus Warren in the minors – added a two-run shot later in the frame.
With Jose Berrios staked to a massive lead, the first-place vibes at Rogers Centre were alive.
The New York Yankees, however, aren’t going to shrivel up and die. They went from laugher to leverage in the span of seven batters in the fifth inning, cutting an eight-run deficit down to two. They scratched out another in the sixth and after Schneider restored some breathing room in the seventh with his second homer of the day, a solo shot, Aaron Judge spoiled Yimi Garcia’s return from the IL with a game-tying two-run shot in the eighth.
Then, just when it seemed like the air had been ripped from the crowd of 30,985, the Blue Jays’ fate turned once more, in the bottom half, as George Springer scampered home on a Devin Williams wild pitch with the go-ahead run before Barger’s RBI single padded the advantage.
Jeff Hoffman, helped by a leaping catch at the centre-field wall by Myles Straw, took care of business in the ninth to close out a riveting 11-9 win. The Blue Jays, having taken three straight from Yankees, are now tied with them at 48-38, half-a-game up on the Tampa Bay Rays (48-39) in the AL East.
“I was literally just saying, I don’t know if I’ve ever been so tired after a game emotionally, physically obviously, but more so just mentally exhausted, just with the roller-coaster,” said Ernie Clement, filling in at shortstop with Bo Bichette still working through some knee discomfort. “It takes a lot of character to stay in the moment and not panic when stuff starts going not our way. It says a lot about this group. We’ve come together and rely on each other. That’s just a really solid win.”
Especially so under the circumstances — meaningful mid-season series, division lead on the line, game nearly slipping through their fingers — and for the way it was ultimately won.
Springer worked a one-out walk off Williams in the eighth and promptly stole second, which prompted the Yankees to intentionally walk Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Kirk hit a fly ball to deep centre that allowed both runners to tag, setting up Springer’s scamper home for the go-ahead run. Barger then battled Williams before dunking in a single to left that plated Guerrero.
“That’s our goal as a team, all the time, try to take the extra base,” Guerrero said through interpreter Hector Lebron. “We took the lead. They came back. We never felt the pressure. We stayed together. Came back again and in the end, we came up with the win.”
The Blue Jays have placed an emphasis on baserunning since spring training for moments such as these.
“There are times when you have to win in the margins and I feel like today was a spot where we did that,” said manager John Schneider. “Take advantage of things that you can take advantage of. That allows you to be a little bit more sustainable. It allows you to eke out a win here and there. And the guys are locked in on it, which is really cool. It’s not hitting, it’s offence and how can you generate offence. We’ve done it a couple different ways this series in all three games.”
Indeed, and the Blue Jays go for a four-game sweep Thursday, when Chris Bassitt starts against Clarke Schmidt, with a chance to take sole possession of the division lead. It’s been a dramatic turnaround since they fell a season-high eight games back of the Yankees on May 27, following a disheartening 2-0 loss at Texas, their fourth defeat in five days.
“It feels great,” said Guerrero, “but the goal is to keep winning and stay right there.”
“We’re playing the way we want,” said Berrios.
“There’s just so much baseball left,” said Clement. “It feels good to grind our way back. But we’ve got a long way to go, so, we’ve just got to keep rolling.”
“It’s July 2 and there’s a whole lot of season left, but yeah, it’s nice,” said John Schneider. “I go back to the way that we’ve done it with guys being out, guys contributing and just putting a focus on trying to win every series. We’re going to continue to do that. And that’s what you have to do over 162. There are going to be ebbs and flows. A couple of weeks from now I can be sitting here telling you it’s going to come back to this. You never really know. But what’s really encouraging is the way that we’re doing it right now and you can kind of fall back on that when you need to.”
Which, in a sense, is what they did against the Yankees on Wednesday.
After the monster first, Berrios seemingly had the game pinned down, allowing only three hits through his first four innings before his night unravelled.
The Yankees opened the fifth with five straight hits off every weapon in the right-hander’s arsenal – Jasson Dominguez singled on a cutter, Anthony Volpe and DJ LeMahieu followed with singles off well-located four-seam fastballs, Ben Rice singled on a changeup before Judge laced a sloppy slurve off the right-centre field wall for a double that made it 8-3.
A Cody Bellinger line out to left field gave him a chance to get the inning back on track, and Berrios quickly got ahead of Giancarlo Stanton 0-2, missed with two chase fastballs and then hung a slurve that the slugger clobbered 415 feet.
The Yankees scratched out another run in the sixth on Bellinger’s fielder’s choice, making it 8-7.
“I think the first two hitters were weak-contact hits, but after that, they kept building on top of that,” said Berrios. “I was trying to throw good pitches, but they made better swings and they beat me.”
The Yankees scratched out another run in the sixth on Bellinger’s fielder’s choice, making it 8-7, but Davis Schneider’s first career multi-homer game extended the lead in the seventh before Judge followed a one-out walk to Rice with his 31st homer, setting up the dramatic finish.
“The Yankees are in first place for a reason,” said Davis Schneider. “They can come back from any lead at any given moment. They have the firepower in that lineup to do so. But we kind of just stuck with it. It’s always good to start with a lead. Warren’s a good pitcher, too. He just didn’t his stuff tonight. I feel like we had a good game plan against him. But it was one of those games where you’re never out of it. The Yankees thought that, too. But we made sure we kind of put the foot on the gas at the end there.”
No brakes, to the top of the American League East, right alongside the Yankees.
