This game looked like a repeat of the first two, as the Yankees would see their offense fall flat for the first eight innings against the Blue Jays’ pitching staff. Kevin Gausman shoved across five innings, and outside of some damage from Juan Soto, they couldn’t muster much of anything. Marcus Stroman kept the Yankees in the game, but it seemed like another game destined to end in a loss for the Bronx Bombers. Instead, they avoided the sweep, mounting a ferocious comeback in the ninth inning, giving them a much-needed win.
While they did drop their first series of the year, they’ll fly into New York on their off-day still leading the American League East at 13-6, coming off of one of their best wins of the young season.
Offense Rallies Late to Help the Yankees Avoid a Sweep in Toronto
These are the kinds of games that you look back on as team-defining wins, and while it looked ugly at first, the Yankees were able to pull off an epic comeback to steal a game in Toronto. The first two contests were ugly, and after a two-run blast off the bat of Daulton Varsho off of Marcus Stroman, it felt like the same story all over again.
The Yankees would be blanked until the fifth inning, where Oswaldo Cabrera doubled and gave Juan Soto a chance to smoke a ball off the centerfield wall for an RBI double.
Exchanging zeroes in the sixth, Marcus Stroman finished his line with his third quality start of the season, allowing just two runs across 5.1 innings pitched against his former ballclub. Rogers Centre had been home for him, but he held firm and kept the Yankees in the game even while they weren’t scoring.
He’s been their most reliable starter thus far, being the only one in their rotation to complete five innings in each start of the season thus far. Caleb Ferguson would come in relief and get out of a jam in the sixth, but the seventh inning seemed like the nail in the coffin for New York.
Daulton Varsho victimized the Yankees again with another blast, and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Justin Turner gave the Blue Jays a seemingly insurmountable 4-1 lead. Juan Soto would hit a home run in the eighth inning, cutting the lead to one, and the Yankees would enter the ninth inning trailing by two against Erik Swanson. Giancarlo Stanton would absolutely vaporize a baseball into left field, giving the Yankees some life with the bottom of the lineup coming up.
A single from Gleyber Torres and a double from Alex Verdugo had the Yankees set up, with Jose Trevino emerging from the bench to get a clutch RBI single to tie it at four apiece. Juan Soto came up with two on and two out, but the red-hot superstar would not get a chance to do damage. Tim Mayza walked him, passing the baton to the ice-cold Aaron Judge, who had gone hitless in the series.
A clutch go-ahead RBI single from Aaron Judge gave the Yankees a two-run lead, where Clay Holmes would shut the Blue Jays down without much of a fight. The Yankees are now 13-6 on the season, and they’ll head to Yankee Stadium for a weekend series against the Tampa Bay Rays.