NEW YORK – The Blue Jays have given the Yankees a run from the Bronx this week that they haven’t experienced in nearly 100 years.
They also retired in the middle of the New York game to get the AL’s final wild card on Thursday night with a 6-4 victory that meant a four-game sweep.
“It’s not easy to come and relax at Yankee Stadium,” coach Charlie Montoyo said. “And they did it for four games.”
The Yankees never had an advantage during the series, the first time it happened to them in a series of four games or more since 1924 against the Washington Senators, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The Yankees had played 1,250 series of four or more games while in the lead at least once before Thursday night.
“We just had a horrible home,” said Aaron Boone, Yankees manager. “It’s not good. … But we’ve been through it all season. We’re going to face it again. We’re really looking forward to going out and turning it around tomorrow. We know it can spin as fast as it’s gone here. “.
Bo Bichette threw a goal in the first round and scored the tiebreaker in the seventh, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. got his 42nd homer to help complete Toronto’s first four-game win in the Bronx since 2003. The Blue Jays have now won eight in a row, their longest winning streak since an 11-game wave. in 2015.
The Yankees, meanwhile, have lost six in a row and a 10 of 12, a discordant collapse immediately after a 13-game winning streak that has propelled them to the top of the wildcard race. They fell a game behind inactive Boston to take the lead.
Jose Berrios (11-7) dominated the Yankees until Anthony Rizzo’s homer in the sixth tied at 2. The right-hander got two outs in the seventh before being retired after 109 throws. He was charged with two charges and made eight.
Bichette scored the first of his three hits with his 22nd homer to start the game. Guerrero’s solo shot Andrew Heaney in the ninth and made it 5-2. Guerrero, 22, matched second-placed Kansas City Salvador Perez behind Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani with 43 homers.
New York got two double plays, including one from Giancarlo Stanton with two innings and one off in the eighth. The Yankees have scored 130 double plays this season, tied with Washington for most majors.
Yankees initiator Nestor Cortés stuck his glove and hat into the excavator after finishing fifth. He worked until the sixth, allowing two runs in 103 pitches. ‘
“It’s no secret to anyone,” Cortes said. “We’ve had a bad stretch over the last 10 games and we want to win the same as everyone else. I think we know where we are in the standings and we want to win games.”
The Blue Jays played the entire 2020 regular season of the 60 2020 games and the first half of this year splitting the games at home between their spring training complex in Dunedin, Florida and their Triple-A park in Buffalo, New York, due to Canadian coronavirus protocols. They finally returned to the Rogers Center in late July, but all that discomfort served to harden the Jays to the rigors of the game on the road, according to Montoyo.
“They never complain, and that’s why we’re at this point right now,” he said. “It’s been awesome what our team has done. I’m very proud of our team. It’s a happy night for us.”
Information from The Associated Press was used in this story.