TORONTO — After two days of drama and theatrics, the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees treated fans to a good old-fashioned pitching duel on Wednesday night.
The Yankees were the first to blink and it was costly.
After nine scoreless innings, Danny Jansen belted a three-run homer in the 10th to give the Blue Jays a 3-0 walkoff victory.
“I just tried to do the job and get the ball in the air,” Jansen said. “It just so happened to go over the wall. I tried to keep it simple.”
His fourth homer of the season came on a first-pitch slider from Yankees left-hander Wandy Peralta (2-1).
Cavan Biggio started the inning on second base as the automatic runner. Whit Merrifield reached when shortstop Anthony Volpe booted a grounder.
Alejandro Kirk grounded out and Jansen followed with a no-doubt shot for his second career walkoff homer.
“When he’s doing his thing, he’s got damage potential, he’s got great bat-to-ball skills and he’s on base a lot,” said Toronto manager John Schneider. “He’s shown that over the course of the last couple years and it’s huge for our lineup.”
Blue Jays closer Jordan Romano (3-2) worked two innings for the win. Toronto (25-18) has won seven of its last 11 games.
The Yankees (25-20), who won the first two games of the four-game series, have dropped three of 10.
A strong pitching matchup between New York’s Gerrit Cole and Toronto’s Chris Bassitt was as advertised.
Cole worked into the seventh inning, allowing seven hits and two walks with six strikeouts. Bassitt, meanwhile, fanned seven and gave up three hits and a walk over seven full frames.
“He’s comfortable and confident and he’s executing at a very high level,” Schneider said.
The Blue Jays left 14 runners on base but New York blew some opportunities too, leaving 10 runners on.
Yimi Garcia and Tim Mayza walked the heart of the Yankees’ order — Aaron Judge, Anthony Rizzo and DJ LeMahieu — with two outs in the eighth inning. Mayza fanned Volpe to get out of the jam.
New York had two runners in scoring position in the 10th but Romano, from Markham, Ont., struck out Rizzo to end the threat.
After two tension-filled matchups that included an ejection, pitch-tipping talk and some jawing between the dugouts, the American League East rivals settled down in front of 27,431 spectators.
New York allowed the first two Toronto batters to reach on errors in the opening frame but the Blue Jays couldn’t take advantage as Cole recovered with three quick outs.
Toronto loaded the bases in the third inning when Brandon Belt walked after two-out singles by Daulton Varsho and Matt Chapman. This time, Cole escaped by getting Merrifield on a flyout.
Bassitt, who has eight different pitches in his arsenal, was coming off a complete-game shutout in his previous start.
He picked up where he left off Wednesday with the roof closed at Rogers Centre. Bassitt retired the first five Yankees he faced and didn’t allow a runner to reach third base.
“He’s hard to get a track on because he continues to mix it up and he was throwing strikes,” said Yankees manager Aaron Boone. “He was tough tonight.”
Bassitt said he was fighting a sinus infection, adding his heart rate would rise on occasion and he’d get headaches.
“I basically tried to pitch like a zombie today,” he said.
Cole was pulled after giving up back-to-back singles to open the seventh inning. Reliever Clay Holmes retired the next three batters in order.
Yankees reliever Jimmy Cordero gave up back-to-back singles to lead off the eighth inning but caught a break when Biggio, on as a pinch-runner, leaned a little too far off second base.
Kirk lined out and Biggio was doubled off. Jansen walked to move Merrifield to second base but Santiago Espinal flew out.
The Blue Jays also had runners in scoring position in the ninth but Michael King got Biggio on an inning-ending flyout.
Toronto outhit New York 10-3. The game took three hours 10 minutes to play.
DAY OFF
Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was given the night off to rest his sore right knee.
He was removed from Tuesday’s game after feeling some discomfort when he fielded a bunt. Guerrero, who’s hitting .312 with seven homers and 26 RBIs, is considered day to day.
COMING UP
Toronto right-hander Jose Berrios (3-3, 4.70 earned-run average) is slated to start the series finale on Thursday night.
The Yankees planned to counter with left-hander Nestor Cortes (3-2, 5.53).
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 17, 2023.
Follow @GregoryStrongCP on Twitter.
