Maybe what was missing was bad blood. The Yankees had tried shaking up the lineup, pounding on tables and calling out the energy level in the dugout. Maybe it took Aaron Judge getting plunked and some yelling back and forth with the Blue Jays to spark the fire that had been missing.
Or more likely it was an Andrew Benintendi home run, good situational hitting by DJ LeMahieu and another strong start by Nestor Cortes as the Yankees snapped a three-game losing streak to beat Toronto 4-2 at the Stadium.
“These are fun games right here, battling against one of the best pitchers in the AL and, scratching out a couple of runs against him, getting the late big homer against one of their better bullpen arms, you feed off the energy the crowd the whole game and it can definitely you know, linger on,” Judge said. “But we just take the highlights from today and just get ready for this next series.”
The next series is a tough two games against the Mets, who swept them last month at the beginning of their second-half slide. It was just the fifth win in their last 20 games for the Yankees (74-48) and they had to rally to avoid being swept by the Blue Jays (65-55). Toronto left the Bronx, however, having handed the Yankees their sixth straight series loss and having cut the Bombers’ lead in the American League East to eight games with 40 games to play. That includes three more games in Toronto next month.
The Yankees scored their first two runs on singles by LeMahieu, the first with the help of an error. They took the lead for good in the seventh when Benintendi snapped a 50-game homerless streak (dating back to June 20) and hit his first as a Yankee. The two-run shot went 387 feet into the second deck in right field.
“The start here hasn’t been great, personally. A lot worse than obviously I’d want it to be but I think that’s a couple of things; trying too hard and things like that,” Benintendi said. “But just helping the team win is all I really want to do. Doing the little things whether it be moving a runner, I’m willing to do that, too. So today was obviously a good day for the team.”
Benintendi’s homer came two innings after Blue Jays Alek Manoah hit Judge in the upper left arm with a 97-mile an hour heater. Judge stepped toward the mound and the two exchanged words as Gerrit Cole hopped the dugout fence and yelled from the sidelines.
Judge said he realized it was not intention with the Blue Jays trailing 2-1 and a man on base, but said “it’s the heat of the moment, nobody likes to get hit.” Cole said his teammates had been “dusted,” too many times for his liking.
Manoah only took exception with Cole’s chirping.
“I’m not trying to do that and I think (Judge) understood that. I think if Gerrit wants to do something, he can walk past the Audi sign next time,” Manoah told reporters, referring to the Audi advertisement painted in foul territory in front of the Yankees dugout.
“A mistake pitch where Alek misses more often than not and a little bit of over-reaction from some of their guys,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said referring to Cole.
It wasn’t the Yankees ace the Blue Jays had to worry about on Sunday, they had beat him Saturday. It was Cortes, who continued to be one of their most reliable starters. Nestor Cortes, who allowed one run over six innings on three hits and a walk Sunday. He struck out five. It was his seventh start this season with at least six innings pitched and allowing one run or less.
Whit Merrifield hit a weird home run that skipped on the top of the fence in front of the Yankees bullpen in right-center field.
Wandy Peralta came in with two one and one out in the seventh to face pinch hitter George Springer, who singled. Peralta walked Jackie Bradley, Jr. to bring in the Blue Jays’ tying run.
The Yankees pitching has been solid through most of this slide, but finally the offense answered.
“It was huge for us. They tied the game up and our half just came up and scored some runs from the get go. So I think the way they responded was pretty good,” Cortes said.
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