Pesky Toronto Blue Jays oust Yankees to advance to first ALCS since 2016 | MLB
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and George Springer each drove in a run, and eight Toronto pitchers shut down the New York Yankees in a 5-2 victory Wednesday night that sent the Blue Jays to the American League Championship Series for the first time in nine years.
Nathan Lukes provided a two-run single and Addison Barger had three of Toronto’s 12 hits as the Blue Jays, fouling on tough pitches and constantly putting the ball in play, bounced back after blowing a five-run lead in Tuesday night’s loss at Yankee Stadium.
AL East champion Toronto won the best-of-five division series 3-1 and will host the ALCS best-of-seven opener on Sunday against the Detroit Tigers or Seattle Mariners.
These teams are expected to decide their playoff series Friday in Game 5 in Seattle.
Jeff Hoffman retired Austin Wells with the bases loaded to end the eighth and earned a four-out save for the Blue Jays, en route to their eighth AL Championship Series. Toronto’s only pennants came in 1992 and 1993, when the club won back-to-back World Series crowns.
Ryan McMahon scored for the wild-card Yankees, unable to avoid elimination for the fourth time in the postseason as they failed to repeat as AL champions.
Despite a tremendous postseason performance from Aaron Judge following his previous October troubles, the 33-year-old star slugger remains without a World Series ring. New York is still looking for its 28th title and its first since 2009.
Lukes made it 4-1 with a two-run single after an error by Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. cost debutant Cam Schlittler a chance to advance to the seventh with a late-inning double play.
Myles Straw, who came on the bench for infield defense, added an RBI single in the eighth after Alejandro Kirk’s double.
With the score tied at 1, Ernie Clement singled in the top of Toronto’s fifth and advanced to third when No. 9 hitter Andrés Giménez bounced a single up the middle. Clement, who had nine hits in the series, scored on Springer’s sacrifice fly.
Toronto opener Louis Varland, who gave up game-changing homers Tuesday to Judge and Chisholm in relief, became the first pitcher in major league history to lose a postseason game and start the next day.
Varland worked a scoreless inning and a third with two strikeouts, and a parade of seven relievers followed. None of them had more than five outs – but all were effective.
On the other side, Schlittler joined Dakota Hudson (2019 for St. Louis) as the only rookies in big league history to make their first two postseason starts in potential playoff games.
Schlittler was coming off one of the most dominant pitching performances in postseason history, when he struck out 12 and walked none in eight innings to beat rival Boston 4-0 in the winning Game 3 of their wild-card series last Thursday at Yankee Stadium.
This time, the 24-year-old right-hander fell behind 1-0 after six pitches. Springer hit a double and scored when Guerrero lined an 0-2 cutter just inside the right field line for an RBI single.
With two runs left, left fielder Cody Bellinger sprinted 113 feet for a sliding catch down the line that saved at least one run — maybe two.
In the ninth at bat, McMahon tied it when he battled back from 0-2 to a full count starting the third and reached across home plate to hook an 83 mph sweeper from left-hander Mason Fluharty onto the short right-field porch for his first postseason home run.
The 6-foot-6 Schlittler struck out just two, but he failed to walk a batter in six and a third efficient innings. He was charged with four runs – two earned – and eight hits.
