Yankees snap Jays home field mastery with dramatic ninth-inning win

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You didn’t really think the New York Yankees would roll over for a sixth consecutive loss to the Blue Jays in the past three weeks did you?

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Sure, the Bronx Bombers have been struggling as they’ve essentially handed the Jays first place in the American League East, a dramatic turnabout in such a short time frame.

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Apparently there’s still some pride in the Pinstripes, however as they jumped on veteran Max Scherzer and out to an early 4-1 lead before yet another exuberant sellout Rogers Centre crowd.

The plucky Jays fought back to tie it only to see Yankees first baseman Ben Rice clobber a solo homer in the ninth to secure a 5-4 win to squelch the bleeding from the defending division champs. It was the Bronx Bombers first victory since losing a four-gamer here earlier in the month and dropping Monday’s opener of this three-game set. The loss also defused the Jays franchise record, 11-game home winning streak.

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The winning blow came off of Jays closer Jeff Hoffman, who was making his fourth appearance in five days as manager John Schneider was clearly going for the jugular against the Yankees, who moved back to within three games of Toronto’s lead in the AL East.

The Jays prospects seemed dire in the early going, but then the familiar chorus of this resilient team kicked in yet again.

After falling into that 4-1 hole, the Jays resolutely chipped away at the Yankees lead. Addison Barger got it started with his second RBI single of the night in the fifth to cut the deficit to two and then it was pinch-hitting Davis Schneider’s turn to deliver a clutch hit, an RBI double in the sixth to score another pinch hitter, Myles Straw.

Two batters later, George Springer ripped a single towards Aaron Judge in right field and just like that it was a 4-4 ball game.

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The Jays had opportunities to finish off the comeback, too. George Springer was left on second base to end the sixth when Vlad Guerrero Jr. struck out in one of those moments that the Jays need him to come up big in.

In the seventh, a hard-hit double to lead things off from Bo Bichette yielded nothing, either, setting the stage for Rice’s decisive homer in the ninth.

Guerrero attempted to get the rally started with a leadoff single off of Yankees closer Devin Williams in the ninth but a Bichette strikeout was followed by a loud fly ball out to right field by Barger and a strikeout of catcher Alejandro Kirk.

The loss snapped the Jays franshise-record home winning streak at 11 games and set up a rubber match in the three-game series for Wednesday.

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Scherzer was frustrated after the loss and a night that he hoped would have gone deeper than five innings.

“If you don’t locate the ball, you pay the price in the major leagues,” Scherzer said of the Yankees hitters’ tendencies to feast off of the long ball. “I don’t make excuses for anything. This is the major leagues. You either win or you don’t. That’s how I see it and I take accountability.

“I tip my hat to the Yankees. They’re tough as nails. This shows you how good they are. You make mistakes like that, they punish you.”

HOFFMAN HIT HARD

Though all of the Yankees runs on Tuesday came off of homers, the solo shot from Rice was the lethal one and ended a streak of efficiency from Hoffman, who has now allowed a concerning 10 long balls.

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The Jays have liked what they’ve seen from Hoffman in recent weeks though, and even with that heavy workload believed their closer was ready for the latest assignment.

“He does such a good job of letting us know how he feels,” manager John Schneider said. “We’re at the point now where,  guys are going to have to be pushed a little bit. They can hit home runs. That’s what they do.”

UP SCHLITTLER CREEK

On paper, Tuesday’s starting pitching matchup seemed lopsided in favour of the Jays.

For the Yankees, righty Cam Schlittler was making just his second career start

For the Jays, veteran Scherzer took the mound for the 463rd time in the big leagues (and sixth with the Jays).

Schlittler, the hard-throwing 24-year-old, is just getting his career stat for a Yankees rotation that has been beset with injuries. Scherzer began the night ranked second among active pitchers in strikeouts (3,431), starts (462) and wins (217.)

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While his teammates gave him some run support, Schlittler’s pitch count climbed to 90 which ended his night after five innings. The righty allowed seven hits and three walks, but limited the damage to two runs – each on RBI singles from Barger in the first and fifth innings.

Scherzer also went five innings, allowing five hits and four earned runs – all of them via the two Yankees home runs – a three-run blast from Jazz Chisholm Jr. in the first and a solo effort from Cody Bellinger in the fifth.

40- PLUS CROWD

The combination of summer in the city and an entertaining, first-place team has made the Rogers Centre the place to be in recent weeks.

An announced crowd of 42,326 on Tuesday was the fifth consecutive game the Jays have topped the 40,000 mark coming out of the break and was a season high.

UP NEXT

The six-game homestand ends on Wednesday with the rubber match of a three-game series with Jays righty Chris Bassitt facing Yankees lefty Max Fried, he of the 11-3 record and 2.43 ERA.

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