Blue Jays move into first place after a late-inning win against the Yankees

A laugher was turned into a nail-biter, but the Toronto Blue Jays secured their third straight win against the New York Yankees.

Yankees 9 @ Blue Jays 11

Just about a year ago, the Toronto Blue Jays had a 29-game streak where they failed to score in the first inning. On July 2, 2024 the Blue Jays were 40-46, 14.5 games behind in the American League East. Tonight, it was 5-0 before the Yankees retired the first Blue Jays batter and it was 7-0 before the José Berríos returned to the mound for the second inning. Tonight, they are 48-38 and tied for the division lead.

How they got to getting the eventual win was not pretty, but man—what a difference one year makes.

Will Warren, who had given up no runs over five innings against the Athletics last start, was called up to the major leagues to face Toronto. Andrés Giménez and George Springer led off the game with back-to-back singles then Vladimir Guerrero Jr. worked a walk. Alejandro Kirk, who finished behind Cal Raleigh in the AL All-Star starters’ vote, lined a single to bring home two runs. Then, on the very next pitch, Warren threw an 87-mph changeup middle-middle to Addison Barger who added 22 mph on it off the bat and turned it into a 428-foot three-run home run. Wone wbatter wlater, Will Warren walked Will Wagner and then Davis Schneider turned another middle-middle pitch into a first-pitch homer for the second of his season.

The two W.W.’s faced off again in the top of the third and Wagner once again bested Warren, doubling to left on a blooper. Giménez then made his manager look like a genius by recording his third hit, this time tipped off of Warren’s glove, from the leadoff spot, bringing in Wagner.

Berríos cruised through his first four innings of work, but fell apart in the top of the fifth to turn the laugher into a two-run game. The Yankees recorded five straight hits—four singles and a double—before recording their first out, then Giancarlo Stanton hit his first home run of his 2025 campaign to bring the score to 8-6 and to end Berríos’ start. With such a tired bullpen, it was certainly disappointing to see Berríos unable to complete five or six innings despite his offense providing him with eight runs on the scoreboard.

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Brendon Little entered in relief and ended the inning with no further damage, but the Yankees loaded the bases against him in the sixth inning and scored a run on a Cody Bellinger groundout to make it 8-7. Yariel Rodríguez replaced Little to face Stanton with runners on the corner and two outs in an at bat that had Jays fans on the edge of their seats. After a brief scare at second base where Giménez hurt his left ankle on a caught stealing attempt against Cody Bellinger, Stanton flied out softly to right to end the inning. Ya got himself into a little trouble in the top of the seventh but a well-placed groundball from Anthony Volpe allowed him and the Blue Jays to escape clinging onto a one-run lead.

Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images

The nail-biting subsided somewhat when Schneider recorded his first career multi-home run game by slamming a Tim Hill offering on the outside of the plate into the stands over the right-centre gap. His solo shot gave a bit of breathing room for Yimi García, who was activated from the injured list just before the game. García got his first guy but walked Ben Rice. Instead of intentionally walking Aaron Judge for a fifth time, John Schneider decided to allow the veteran to face the slugger. García got ahead of Judge 0-2 but Judge worked the count to 2-2, but a misplaced sweeper from Yimi was all Judge needed to tie the game with a monster shot to left field. The nail-biting resumed. A couple of Yanks reached base but García got out of the inning without further damage, but at a cost of 34 pitches.

Devin Williams, who was removed as New York’s closer after a blown save against Toronto earlier this season, was given the baseball in the bottom of the eighth to face the top of the Jays’ lineup. Williams struck out Giménez (who was visibly in pain and will be replaced defensively by Leo Jiménez) then walked Springer. After Springer stole second, Williams intentionally walked Vladdy, then both runners advanced when Kirk hit a sac fly to centre. With Addison Barger at bat, Williams threw a changeup that hit the dirt and was not blocked by catcher Rice, giving Toronto their go-ahead run on a wild pitch. Barger then added a second run by fisting a changeup to the opposite field to bring home Guerrero.

The Thanos light show started under the closed dome and Jeff Hoffman trotted onto the mound for his first appearance in July, hoping that he could break the great month–terrible month–great month pattern of his season so far.

Hoffman K’d Jasson Domínguez and was given a hand by Myles Straw, who made a tremendous catch at the wall to record the second out. An infield single by Trent Grisham later, Rice stepped up to the plate and the Rogers Centre crowd stood up and cheered on their closer to get the final out. Four pitches into the at bat, with Judge looming on deck, Rice popped a ball straight up over home plate and when Vladdy closed his mitt on the ball, the Blue Jays found themselves in first place for the first time since April 13, when they were 9-7.

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Jays of the Day! George Springer (+.425 WPA), Yariel Rodríguez (+.175), Davis Schneider (+.144), Addison Barger (+.126).

Suckage Jays: Yimi García (−.264 WPA), José Berríos (−.123).

The Blue Jays will look for a series sweep against their co-leaders of the AL East tomorrow at 7:07 pm, Chris Bassitt to face Clarke Schmidt.