Yankees beat Jays, avoid sweep

TORONTO – Giancarlo Stanton homered in the ninth inning and Aaron Judge added a go-ahead two-run double to lead the New York Yankees to a 6-4 comeback win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday at Rogers Centre.

Stanton hit a solo shot off Erik Swanson (0-1) to kick off a four-run outburst that prevented a three-game sweep.

Pinch-hitter Jose Trevino hit an RBI single off Tim Mayza to tie the game. After Juan Soto walked to load the bases, Judge lashed a pitch down the left-field line that scored Trevino and Alex Verdugo.

Victor Gonzalez (1-0) got the last out of the eighth inning for the win. Clay Holmes earned his seventh save.

Daulton Varsho hit two homers for the Blue Jays (10-9), who had their four-game winning streak come to an end. New York outhit Toronto 11-9.

Varsho’s two-run shot in the second inning came off starter Marcus Stroman. He added a solo shot off Caleb Ferguson in the seventh.

Starter Kevin Gausman threw five effective innings for Toronto. Soto hit a solo homer in the eighth inning for the Yankees (13-6), who ended a three-game losing skid.

The Blue Jays went 6-3 on the homestand after starting the regular season with a 4-6 road trip.

Gausman loaded the bases in the first inning on two walks and a single but escaped by fanning Gleyber Torres.

In the second, Davis Schneider singled before Varsho turned on a 1-2 pitch for his third homer of the season.

Gausman settled in nicely and his fastball velocity – which had dipped at times earlier this month – was at its usual mid-90s level. He gave up his lone earned run in the fifth when Soto’s two-out double scored Oswaldo Cabrera.

Gausman struck out Judge to complete his 101-pitch outing. The veteran right-hander gave up four hits, three walks and had six strikeouts.

Stroman, who was drafted by Toronto in 2012 and spent parts of six seasons with the team, nearly gave up a homer to Bo Bichette to lead off the sixth but the ball hit the top of the wall.

Justin Turner’s slow chopper moved Bichette to third base and ended Stroman’s afternoon. Ferguson struck out pinch-hitter Ernie Clement and got Schneider on a flyout to deep centre field.

Varsho sent Ferguson’s first pitch of the seventh inning over the wall for his second career multi-homer game. He has four home runs on the season.

Kiermaier scored on Bichette’s sacrifice fly later in the inning. Announced attendance was 30,233 and the game took three hours 10 minutes to play.

COMING UP

Both teams have off-days Thursday.

The Blue Jays will kick off a three-game weekend series at San Diego on Friday night. Yariel Rodriguez (0-0, 2.45) was tabbed to start for Toronto against fellow right-hander Matt Waldron (0-1, 3.14).

The Yankees will return home to begin a three-game weekend set against the Tampa Bay Rays.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 17, 2024.