Yankees outlast the Blue Jays, finally at Rogers Centre

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3 days ago

TORONTO – Finding a narrow path to victory, the Yankees could at last rejoice at Rogers Centre – a nightmarish place for Aaron Boone's crew.
'Big swing, and we finally get one up here north of the border this year,'' Boone said after Tuesday night's 5-4 win against the AL East-leading Blue Jays, who had taken the previous five meetings here.
The big swing was Ben Rice's go-ahead, ninth inning solo homer off Toronto closer Jeff Hoffman, leading to a Devin Williams' save – with another big assist by left fielder Cody Bellinger.
That all served to lower the flame under the Yankees here, allowing the music to blare in the Rogers Centre visiting clubhouse for the first time all year.
In Wednesday night's series finale, the Yankees will be sending lefty ace Max Fried (coming off a blister in his last start) to the Rogers Centre mound, knowing they avoided another worst-case-scenario sweep.
But it doesn't change the enigmatic Jonathan Loaisiga's untrustworthy bullpen status.
It doesn't fix Anthony Volpe's throwing woes, and his 13th error of the year – on a ball Rice, a part-time first baseman, failed to pick on a bounce – led to Toronto's tying, unearned runs.
Overnight, the Yankees (56-45) can't fix their 11-17 record in the AL East, where they sit three games behind the first place Blue Jays (59-42).
George Springer (2-for-2, RBI, two walks, lineout) keeps enjoying comfortable at-bats against the Yanks, while Addison Barger (two RBI singles) and Davis Schneider (RBI double) are burgeoning Yankee killers.
Toronto's John Schneider retained his Manager of the Year Against the Yankees for neutralizing Aaron Judge, intentionally walking him for the seventh time in six games here – this time with none on and two out in the eighth.
But as Williams put it, 'we got the monkey off our back a little bit there,'' by outlasting a Toronto team that had won a franchise-record 11 straight home games entering Tuesday.
Another sellout crowd on Loonie Hot Dog Night (they set a record for sales, with 42,326 fans here) watched the Blue Jays out-hit the Yanks 11-6, while making some screaming, line drive outs.
But you had to like Cam Schlitter's second big-league start, lasting five innings and flashing his 99-mph heater with confidence – though with shaky command of his slider.
'The one thing that strikes me about Cam is his confidence,'' said Boone. 'He feels he's got stuff to handle you, and that shows. He's not afraid.''
On 12 days of rest due to the All-Star break and bout with upper arm soreness, Schlittler stranded five
And you could appreciate Luke Weaver's key five outs, stranding a leadoff double in the seventh put there by Loaisiga.
This time, the Yankees took an early 3-0 lead with Jazz Chisholm Jr.'s three-run homer in the first off future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer, who yielded a fifth-inning solo shot to the hot-as-July Bellinger (3-for-4, two doubles).
And before the Volpe errant throw, he started a nifty double play to help bail out Schlittler in the fifth.
Ranging behind the bag, Volpe fielded Bo Bichette's grounder and made an off-balance flip to Chisholm, who barehanded the ball and fired, just in time, to Rice.
Credit an assist to Chisholm, for giving Rice a tip on shortening his swing before attacking Hoffman's first pitch and driving it out for the go-ahead homer.
In the last of the ninth, Williams thought he'd surrendered a game-tying double to the gap when Bellinger, capping a terrific defensive night, ran down Barger's drive at the warning track.
"Huge, yeah,'' said Rice of the win. "Obviously lost five in a row to these guys'' since June 30. "Coming back and getting a win here and getting us some good momentum'' going forward.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Yankees outlast the Blue Jays, finally at Rogers Centre