TORONTO – The Yankees went through plenty of drama at Rogers Centre last year, and in most cases, it did not end well for them.
In their first trip here this season, they found the good kind of drama to come away with a series win.
For the second straight day, the Yankees broke a tie in the top of the ninth with a two-run homer – this one from Ben Rice – before piling on to take the rubber game with a 8-3 win over the Blue Jays on Sunday afternoon.
After Rice’s clutch moonshot, the Yankees (43-27) kept the rally going, culminating in a three-run shot from José Caballero to put the game on ice and send them home flying high off a 5-1 trip.
Paul Goldschmidt, who delivered the go-ahead blast in Saturday’s win, started the ninth-inning rally on Sunday with a swinging bunt down the third base line. Blue Jays reliever Braydon Fisher tried to make a wild play and got off an ill-advised throw that ended up down the right field line allowing Goldschmidt to take second.
Rice then came up and worked a full count before getting a slider on the inside corner that he clobbered for his team-leading 19th home run of the season.
After walks by Jasson Domínguez and Jazz Chisholm Jr., Caballero provided breathing room by taking Tommy Nance deep as the Yankees turned the tables after going 1-8 against the Blue Jays (34-38) here last year.
Anthony Volpe enjoyed a strong all-around day, going 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs and some strong defense at shortstop, though he missed a chance to make it even better in the top of the eighth inning. With the game tied 3-3, Chisholm walked, stole second and then took third on a balk with one out. But Max Schuemann (after an unsuccessful bunt attempt) and Volpe both struck out against Jeff Hoffman to end the threat.
The bottom of the Yankees’ lineup, which at times has doubled as a black hole, came through on Sunday to give them a lead in the second inning against left-hander Patrick Corbin.
Schuemann, making a rare start in left field, got it started by smoking a double off the left field wall before Volpe – right after making a terrific play on a ground ball up the middle to end the bottom of the first – singled him home with a line drive to center field.
Ali Sánchez then picked up his first hit as a Yankee – and the first RBI by a Yankee catcher since May 26 – with a double to the gap, scoring Volpe all the way from first to make it 2-0.
But the Blue Jays came back to tie it up with single runs in the third and fourth innings against Will Warren, though he was let down by his defense at times and the Yankees were lucky neither rally turned into more than that.
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After Warren left the bases loaded in the second inning, Nathan Lukes led off the third by reaching on a chopper to the right of second base that José Caballero fielded but could not make a clean throw to first. Alejandro Kirk followed with a single before Warren got Yohendrick Piñango to ground into a double play, with Lukes taking third.
Kazuma Okamoto came up next and hit a chopper down the line, but after making the stop, Amed Rosario bounced his throw to first past Paul Goldschmidt, allowing Lukes to score.
Then in the fourth, after Warren got two outs with a man on first, George Springer and Lukes hit back-to-back grounders just past the reach of a diving Volpe, tying the game 2-2. Warren made sure it stayed there, stranding runners on second and third by getting Kirk to ground out on his 98th and final pitch of the day.
After the Yankees knocked Corbin out of the game in the fourth, Volpe delivered again in the sixth, roping an RBI single off righty reliever Spencer Miles for the 3-2 lead.
But it proved to be short-lived, as Jake Bird gave up a game-tying home run to Davis Schneider in the bottom of the frame on a 95 mph sinker down the middle.
