TORONTO — An astute observation from sidelined reliever Yimi García about the way his Toronto Blue Jays are playing also proved particularly prescient during the opener of another important three-game series versus the New York Yankees.
“Every time you see a team play the way we are, everybody feels good,” said García. “How we are doing the little things is the most impressive thing. When everybody does the little things, it can make you really good.”
The Blue Jays once again did the little things Monday, in contrast to the Yankees, and it made them really good in a 4-1 victory that extended their home win streak to a club record 11 games.
Kevin Gausman set the tone and did the heavy lifting with seven dominant innings of one-run ball and Bo Bichette’s two-run double in the fifth inning erased a Giancarlo Stanton solo shot in the fourth that was Gausman’s only real mistake.
But it was the way a diving Oswaldo Peraza at third base couldn’t snag a 113.9 m.p.h. grounder off the bat of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. right after George Springer’s leadoff walk that opened the door for Bichette’s big swing.
It was the way Davis Schneider battled Carlos Rodón for 14 pitches before popping out to short, wearing down the Yankees in what had already been a high-stress inning.
It was the way Myles Straw booted it up the line on a grounder to third, leading Cabrera to yank his throw to first, allowing Bichette to score on the error.
It was the way Straw kept running hard from second on Leo Jiménez’s chopper to short, allowing him to score when first baseman Paul Goldschmidt couldn’t pick Anthony Volpe’s relay.
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The division-leading Toronto Blue Jays host the New York Yankees for a pivotal three-game series in the AL East. Catch Game 2 on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.
All little things that helped add up to the difference in a win that pushed the Blue Jays (59-41) four games clear of the Yankees (55-45) atop the American League East.
Other moments mattered, of course.
Gausman used an intentional walk of Aaron Judge in the third to help strand a two-out Trent Grisham double, striking out Jazz Chisholm Jr. to end that threat. And Gausman then stranded Peraza at third in the fifth by battling Judge for nine pitches, inducing a foul pop-up to the plate.
In the eighth, Brendon Little left two on and one out, but Yariel Rodriguez got Stanton on a 107.6 m.p.h. liner to centre that Straw cleverly chased down before Jasson Dominguez grounded weakly to second. That left Jeff Hoffman, pitching for the third time in four days, plenty of margin for error in a ninth inning in which he struck out the side.
Another win over the Yankees — after a four-game sweep before the all-star break wrested the division lead from them — also put the Blue Jays up 6-2 in the season series and another victory will secure them the tiebreaker.
Before the game, New York manager Aaron Boone said his team “walks in here with a lot of confidence and expecting good things to happen,” but instead found itself struggling against a team it clobbered during a doubleheader sweep April 27 but hasn’t managed to solve since.
“They have a couple of stars having really good years, but I think it’s the emergence of their supporting cast this year that’s been really good and really playing at a high level for the better part of over a month now,” Boone said of what makes the Blue Jays so challenging. “And complementary parts too. They can play the platoon game with you and get guys in good matchups and the roster is really complementary.”
