Yankees defeat Blue Jays to close gap in AL East to two games
Yankees first baseman Ben Rice follows through on his three-run home run against the Toronto Blue Jays during the first inning of an MLB game at Yankee Stadium on Sunday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Two down, 19 to go.
Indeed, it’s very much a race for the AL East crown, not to mention for the American League’s top playoff seed come October.
The Yankees, who as recently as Aug. 23 trailed the Blue Jays by 6 1/2 games, closed that gap to two games with Sunday afternoon’s 4-3 victory over Toronto in front of 43,266 at the Stadium.
“It’s huge,” Ben Rice said of taking the series after dropping Friday's opener. “With that being said, we’ve got more work to do.”
The Yankees (80-63), who got a three-run homer in the first inning from Rice, seven solid innings from Max Fried and a lockdown ninth by David Bednar, have won 18 of their last 25 games.
The Yankees — who were outhit 8-3 on Sunday — went 5-8 against the Blue Jays (82-61) this season and are closer to the division leaders since July 13, when they also were two games back. They matched their season high by going 17 games over .500, and after an off-day Monday, they will host the AL Central-leading Tigers (82-61) starting Tuesday night.
“All parts of the game are a lot sharper,” Fried said. “Whether it’s pitching, hitting, defense. Just making the plays when we need to, getting the big hits when we need to.”
Fried (16-5, 3.02 ERA), who allowed three runs and six hits, tied teammate Carlos Rodon and the Brewers' Freddy Peralta for the MLB lead in victories. He pitched out of a second-and-third, none-out jam in the third to keep the score at 3-3 and benefited from standout defensive plays all afternoon by third baseman Ryan McMahon and one in particular by Aaron Judge. The latter, getting his second start in rightfield in the last three games, clearly is still protecting his right elbow on his throws but didn’t need protection in the fourth when, with a runner on second, two outs and the Yankees ahead 4-3, he made a diving catch on George Springer’s sinking liner.
“Huge. Springer hit that ball really well,” Fried said. "It was just a great catch.”
Said leftfielder Cody Bellinger: “That ball’s hit really hard. It’s a tough read. He got a good jump on it. It was a great catch in a big part of the game.”
Fried departed with a 4-3 lead after seven innings, giving way to the up-and-down Devin Williams. Pinch hitter Addison Barger reached on an infield hit to start the eighth and stole second, but Williams struck out Yankees tormentor Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who had eight hits in the series, on a nasty, diving changeup and got Alejandro Kirk to ground to third. He walked Ernie Clement but got Ty France to roll over on a changeup and bounce it to McMahon for the third out.
“That’s what I do,” Williams said of throwing his changeup, his best pitch, to Guerrero with a full count. “I’m going to throw it no matter what, no matter what the count is. I always have a lot of confidence in it. This was a huge game. Every game is obviously really big right now.”
Bednar allowed a single by Nathan Lukes with one out in the ninth, but Austin Wells threw him out when he tried to steal second. Bednar got Myles Straw to ground to third for his 22nd save and fifth since joining the Yankees at the trade deadline.
Wells’ throw left Springer, who has hit the Yankees all season, on deck without a chance to inflict further damage.
“Excellent throw by Austin,” Aaron Boone said. “Probably the biggest defensive play of the game.”
With one out in the first and Max Scherzer on the mound, Judge drew his first of three walks in the game — he has an AL-leading 104 — and Bellinger flared a single to left. Rice fell behind 0-and-2 before engaging in a 10-pitch at-bat, finally driving a 3-and-2 pitch 380 feet to right for his 23rd homer and a 3-0 lead.
Rice hit a 95-mph fastball, but Judge apparently helped him by indicating when a changeup was coming. Standing off second base, he had spread his arms ahead of two changeups from Scherzer after getting a signal from Bellinger, who later acknowledged he had signaled Judge to alert Rice. “That is correct. That is what was happening,” Bellinger said.
Scherzer and Blue Jays manager John Schneider also acknowledged that they were aware of Scherzer's changeup-tipping, and Schneider said: "We got to do a better job of making sure we’re not giving anything away.''
The Yankees would be limited to one hit the rest of the way, and the Blue Jays clawed back with two runs in the second on an RBI single by Isiah Kiner-Falefa and a sacrifice fly to right by Lukes, with Judge making no attempt to throw home. They tied it at 3-3 in the third on doubles by Springer and Guerrero, but Fried wound up getting a grounder, a soft lineout and another grounder to strand runners at second and third.
The Yankees went ahead in the bottom of the third when Judge walked, stole second and scored on Bellinger's double off the right-centerfield wall.
“We are in a position to go get it,” Boone said of the division. “Now we gotta go do it.”
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
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