HOUSTON — Since the last time they saw them a month and a half ago — and even a few weeks before that — the Yankees have been looking up at the Blue Jays.
Beginning Friday, they will get their last chance in the regular season to see the team they are chasing in the division across the field for three more games while trying to erase what they trimmed to a 3-game deficit with Thursday’s 8-4 win over the Astros.
“The way I look at it, for me, every game’s the biggest game of my life in terms of we’re making a playoff push and we got to win games, put the team in a spot to win,” Cam Schlittler said Thursday before flying back to New York ahead of the team to get a good night’s rest ahead of his start on Friday. “We played them before, and it didn’t really go our way, but I’m confident we’re going to turn it around when we get back.”
Friday marks the Blue Jays’ 64th straight day atop the AL East since swiping first place from the Yankees during a four-game sweep against them at the start of July.
The Yankees then lost two of three in Toronto later in July — Schlittler started the only game the Yankees won in that series, tossing five innings of two-run ball — and enter this series 3-7 against the Blue Jays this season (meaning Toronto has the tiebreaker regardless of what happens this weekend).
The Blue Jays’ style of putting the ball in play and using their speed to their advantage has been a bad recipe for the Yankees, who have played some of their worst baseball all season against their division foe.
They entered Thursday having committed 77 errors this season in 139 games, 12 of which have come in 10 games against the Blue Jays — 11 of them during the seven games at Rogers Centre.
“They’re going to be aggressive,” Schlittler said. “I think I’m a better pitcher since the last time I faced them. They can put the ball in play and we have a great defense behind me, but I’ve been working on things as well. … I don’t think they saw many pitches below the belt. I’m confident I’ll be able to go out there and get the results I’m looking for and continue to be successful like I have over the last month or so.”
Giancarlo Stanton started his third straight game in left field Thursday, marking the first time he played the field three straight days since Aug. 11-13, which resulted in him needing the following series off because of lower-body soreness.
Manager Aaron Boone claimed that Stanton, who went 0-for-3 with a strikeout and a walk, would “not necessarily” be out of the lineup for Friday’s game against the Blue Jays, though it would be a bit of a surprise if he were not, especially given the team’s overnight travel and early arrival into New York on Friday.
Meanwhile, Aaron Judge continued his throwing progression before Thursday’s game, making five throws from right field to home plate — three to a cutoff man plus a pair of two-hoppers to the catcher.
Austin Slater (hamstring strain) played in a fifth rehab game on Thursday — his third straight day in the lineup at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, this one at DH to get a few more at-bats before he is likely activated on Friday.
The Yankees cleared a spot for his return by optioning J.C. Escarra to Triple-A on Thursday night.
