The New York Yankees (26-20) bounced back and secured a series victory with a 4-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays (25-19) on Thursday night at the Rogers Centre.
Aaron Judge opened the scoring immediately in the first inning with his 12th home run of the season, a 430-foot two-run shot to straightaway center. That was also Judge’s 32nd career homer against the Blue Jays, breaking a tie with Jorge Posada for the most by a Yankees player vs. Toronto all-time.
The Blue Jays quickly responded in the bottom of the frame as Bo Bichette took Nestor Cortes deep, cutting New York’s lead in half.
After no runs were scored over the next five innings, Aaron Hicks made it a 3-1 game in the top of the seventh with a two-out RBI single. But Toronto answered again in the bottom of the inning and made it a one-run game on Vladimir Guerrero Jr’s pinch-hit sacrifice fly.
However, Anthony Volpe provided a huge insurance run in the eighth with his seventh long ball of the season, and Ron Marinaccio locked it down with a 1-2-3 ninth, picking up his first career save.
Cortes turned in one of his best outings of the season, allowing a pair of runs on five hits over six innings while walking one and striking out six.
Ryan Weber and Albert Abreu did a tremendous job in relief, holding the lead while most of the high-leverage guys were unavailable due to recent usage.
The Yankees will head to Cincinnati to begin a three-game series with the Reds on Friday at Great American Ball Park. The first pitch is slated for 6:40 p.m.
Kyle leads sports coverage and hosts the Concrete Jungle podcast. Have a lead or question? Send it to [email protected].