Blue Jays drop series sweep vs. Yankees amidst late drama

NEW YORK – Getting hit by a baseball isn’t a good time so even though there was clearly no intent on the part of Alek Manoah, that Aaron Judge wasn’t happy about it is understandable.

Especially since getting up and in on the New York Yankees slugger was clearly part of the Toronto Blue Jays right-hander’s approach Sunday afternoon. Take a look at the pitch charts from their clashes in the first and third innings and where the location of the opening pitch, both sinkers, was each time.

So, when the MVP candidate came back to the plate in the fifth, after Andrew Benintendi’s one-out double, there should have been little surprise that Manoah, once again, began the plate appearance with a sinker way in.

The difference this time was that he missed too far in, clipping Judge above the left elbow, prompting Judge to shake his head in frustration.

Again, makes sense. If a pitcher is going there he needs to do it responsibly, which is why Manoah owned it right away, telling Judge that the pitch got away from him. Obviously, because no one trying to win a game against a division rival is hitting anybody in that situation, and Judge seemed to accept that, motioning to his teammates to chill and not get involved.

Save for Gerrit Cole, all listened, the Yankees ace jumping over the dugout fence like it was a WWE turnbuckle, shouting toward the mound, trying to ratchet up the heat as Manoah and Judge talked calmly by first base, bringing the temperature down.

“Been struggling with my sinker for about five, six starts now. I made a pitch and obviously hit Judge,” Manoah said afterwards. “I looked at him said, man, you know, I'm not trying to do that. I think he understood that. And I think if Gerrit wants to do something, he can walk past the Audi sign (sprayed on the grass by the dugout) next time.”

Bank those spicy words for the next time the American League East rivals meet, Sept. 26-28 at Rogers Centre, after the Yankees managed a four-game-sweep-averting 4-2 victory Sunday afternoon.

Though calm was quickly restored, Cole included, there was no shortage of late drama, as Blue Jays interim manager John Schneider cleverly manoeuvred his way through a seventh inning rally that tied the game 2-2 but left more runs on the table.

That proved costly when the Yankees rallied immediately afterwards. Jose Trevino reached on an infield single to open the bottom half, and after he was sacrificed to second, Benintendi ripped a ball over the right field wall to provide the margin of victory.

The homer ended a four-game win streak for the Blue Jays (65-55) and was the just the fourth victory in the past 18 games for the Yankees (74-48) before a braying crowd of 46,958 on Paul O’Neill Day.

“Just knowing the situation,” Judge, speaking to New York media, said of why he motioned to his team to remain in the dugout. “It’s a close game. At first you’re pissed and I was pissed, but I didn’t need anybody else getting thrown out for me getting hit. I was just kind of moving on to the next play. I knew (Anthony) Rizzo had a big at-bat behind me. I’d be a little happier with getting a couple of runs instead of us brawling out there.”

Judge said he didn’t think it was intentional but sought out Manoah because “I just had some stuff to say and that was about it.”

Cole was far more opaque about his motivations, saying he wasn’t clear on Manoah’s intentions, reacted because “Aaron got hit and we’ve been dusted several times,” and described the situation as “a little one too many for my taste. I don't know what to say.”

Actions spoke louder than words and when asked what he made of someone like Cole going off the way he did, Manoah’s terse reply was, simply, “like you said, a guy like Cole.”

Schneider, shrugging off the dust up as “a little bit of overreaction from some of their guys,” praised his young right-hander for keeping his cool afterwards, getting Rizzo on a fielder’s choice and DJ LeMahieu on a soft liner to centre to keep the Yankees lead at 2-1, and tacking on a three-up, three-down sixth to end a gutsy outing.

Manoah, upping his career-high innings count to 148.2, allowed just two runs, one earned, on four hits and two walks, dodging traffic with the help of eight strikeouts.

In doing so, he showed “that he's tough and that he battled through six innings without his best stuff today, probably,” said Schneider. “Like the way he finished for sure. Wasn't his overall crispest game, probably. But the fact that he navigated the way he did just shows the kind of competitor he is.”

Not to mention doing so after Cole tried to get in his grill, as the Yankees did all they could to try and break through their extended struggles against a Blue Jays team recovering after a shaky 3-9 stretch of their own.

In the seventh it looked like they may pull out yet another win, when with two on, one out, righty Jonathan Loiaisiga on the mound and lefty Wandy Peralta warming in the bullpen, Schneider decided it was time to take his shot.

First, he sent up Cavan Biggio to hit for Santiago Espinal, prompting Yankees counterpart Aaron Boone to bring in Peralta. Then, Schneider pulled back Biggio and sent up George Springer, who didn’t start because of lingering knee soreness, and he promptly delivered a base hit that loaded the bases.

Jackie Bradley Jr. then worked a left-on-left walk to tie the game 2-2 and the Blue Jays were set up with an upper hand matchup as Lourdes Gurriel Jr. came up as the third batter Peralta had to face.

Peralta, however, prevailed, inducing a groundball to shortstop that led to a force out at home, Boone then brought in Lou Trivino to face Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and he grounded out to short to end the frame.

“Liked them both, Biggio versus Loaisiga and George versus Peralta. We were happy with either one of those matchups,” said Schneider. “Would have liked to have tacked one more on there, just didn't get it done. But like those matchups and it was nice that we have the flexibility to put ourselves in that spot. Didn't quite work out. But that was the thought process.”

Despite that, the Blue Jays still head into Monday’s day off feeling much better than they did at the beginning of the week, when they were struggling to pull themselves out of an extended skid. A three-game set at Fenway Park against the Boston Red Sox begins Tuesday night.

Manoah’s line might have been cleaner, too, as the damage against him could have been avoided. In the first, the Yankees played hit and run with two out and LeMahieu singled through the vacated spot at shortstop and Gurriel threw the ball away trying to get the runner at third, allowing Rizzo to score easily.

After Whit Merrifield’s first homer with the Blue Jays – up and over after two hops on the top of the wall – tied the game up in the third, LeMahieu ripped a 101 m.p.h. grounder that Bo Bichette couldn’t short hop, bringing in the go-ahead run in the bottom half.

Manoah kept it there as the Blue Jays tried to grind out Nestor Cortes, who held them to three hits and a walk over six frames. But their improved approach of late remained and they gave themselves a chance, as did their 24-year-old right-hander, who refused to get rattled.

“I've got a ball game to try and win,” Manoah said of resetting after Cole went after him. “That's the biggest thing, just continue to compete, continue to try and make pitches and not let it get out of control.”