NEW YORK _ Aaron Judge hit another long home run and Matt Holliday hit a longer one. Still, it wasn't the long ball that cemented the Yankees' 8-6 comeback win against the Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday night.
It was a bloop after the blasts. And a grounder to the pitcher. And a bases-loaded walk.
The Yankees, after falling behind 6-3 after an inning and a half, were trailing 6-5 in the seventh when Chris Carter blooped a single over drawn-in Toronto shortstop Ryan Goins to drive in Judge with the tying run.
Judge had singled with one out in the first three-hit game of his career. Judge had hit a 435-foot, two-run home run to center in the third, his major league-best 13th home run.
After Judge's single, Chase Headley doubled to put runners on second and third and bring the Blue Jays infield in for Carter's painfully (to Toronto) short single.
Pinch hitter Didi Gregorius then grounded a potential inning-ending double play ball that was deflected by Toronto pitcher Joe Biagini (0-1), who lost sight of it before throwing late to first. The infield single allowed Headley to score the go-ahead run for the Yankees' first lead of the night.
Another run scored in the inning when Aaron Hicks walked with the bases loaded to make it 8-6.
Yankees manager Joe Girardi was ejected by plate umpire Bill Welke after the first pitch was thrown in the bottom of the seventh. It was called a strike to Starlin Castro. The Yankees had been balking about Welke's strike zone since all three batters were struck out looking by Biagini in the sixth.
Brett Gardner, who was the first punchout in that inning, was so incensed that he destroyed a blue plastic recycling garbage can with his bat after returning to the Yankees dugout.
CC Sabathia, who gave up seven runs in 52/3 innings in his last start, was ineffective again. He allowed six runs in the first two innings and was pulled two batters into the fifth after a walk and single with the Yankees trailing 6-5.
The Yankees bullpen threw five scoreless innings. Dellin Betances (3-1) picked up the win with 12/3 perfect innings. Aroldis Chapman pitched a 1-2-3 ninth, striking out Russell Martin on a 100-mph fastball to end it, for his sixth save.
The Blue Jays scored four in the first on Justin Smoak's two-out RBI single and Steve Pearce's ensuing three-run homer.
Holliday helped the Yankees get three runs back in the bottom of the first. He hit his fifth home run of the season and 300th of his career, a three-run shot off Marcus Stroman that traveled 446 feet to the netting above Monument Park.
But the Blue Jays scored two more runs in the second on a bases-loaded walk to Martin and RBI groundout by Kendrys Morales to make it 6-3. Sabathia was in danger of being replaced by Adam Warren, but that didn't happen until the fifth.
Sabathia's final line: four-plus innings, seven hits, six runs, four walks, five strikeouts.
Judge's two-run blast in the third brought the Yankees back to within a run at 6-5. Earlier in the day, Judge was named AL Rookie of the Month for April. He's already hit three home runs in May.
After allowing five runs in three innings, Stroman did not return for the fourth. He allowed six hits, walked three and struck out two.
An ESPN report said Stroman left the game with "discomfort in his armpit."
