TORONTO _ Shortly after Aaron Judge blasted the longest home run this season at Rogers Centre, the Yankees' night started going in the wrong direction.
A regrettable error in the field, and a brain cramp on the bases didn't help Masahiro Tanaka's cause.
But the right-hander didn't help himself either, finally exiting after No. 9 hitter Ryan Goins drilled a sixth-inning grand slam _ the third homer yielded by Tanaka on Friday.
Any hopes of clinching an AL wild-card berth were put on hold after the Blue Jays' 8-1 win, ensuring the Yankees another losing record in Canada.
Not since 2009, their last world championship season, have the Yankees won a single-season series at Toronto. The Yanks (85-68) have lost five of their seven games this year at Rogers Centre against the last-place Blue Jays (72-82).
Judge awed the crowd of 42,153 in the first inning, belting a solo homer, an estimated 469 feet off Toronto starter Marco Estrada (10-8). It was Judge's 46th homer of the year, leaving him three shy of tying Mark McGwire's rookie record set in 1989.
And it was the second longest clout by Judge this season.
But that was about it for Yankees highlights. The evening began spiraling away from Tanaka (12-12) in the home first inning, after second baseman Starlin Castro completely mishandled a true feed from third baseman Todd Frazier on a force play.
That Castro error led directly to an unearned run, and Frazier followed up with a miscue on the bases _ with a huge assist from Goins.
Frazier doubled to lead off the third inning, and he was still on second base with one out when Jacoby Ellsbury's long, line drive to right was tracked down on a fine running catch by Jose Bautista _ extending his glove and saving a possible run-scoring extra-base hit.
Frazier retreated to the bag quickly and was standing on it as Bautista's throw came in to Goins, also at the bag.
But Goins kept the ball in his glove for several more seconds while Frazier looked the other way. Once Frazier took a slight step off the bag, Goins applied the tag and second base umpire Mark Carlson instantly called Frazier out.
Frazier complained to Carlson, but the Yankees didn't even bother to ask for replay review of a play that ended the inning, with Judge on deck.
Things only grew worse for Tanaka, who gave up a long, go-ahead solo homer to rookie Teoscar Hernandez in the third.
After a walk to Bautista in the fourth, Tanaka served up a two-run homer to ex-Yankee catcher Russell Martin for a 4-1 lead.
And two walks and a single set up Goins' backbreaking grand slam in the sixth, for an 8-1 Blue Jays lead.
In his 52/3 innings, Tanaka was charged with seven earned runs on six hits and three walks. He had six strikeouts.
Entering the Friday night start, Tanaka had been 4-1 in five starts since going on the 10-day disabled list due to arm fatigue.
On Aug. 9, Tanaka had walked off the mound at Rogers Centre after just four innings and later complained of a tired arm. After Friday's dull, 95-pitch effort, Tanaka is likely to get an extra day of rest before his next start as the Yankees are leaning toward adding a sixth starter this turn.
With nine games remaining, the Yankees magic number remained temporarily at two to punch their ticket to postseason. Entering Friday, the Yankees needed a combination of a victory and a loss by both the Angels and Rangers to clinch a wild card berth.
The Yankees still held at least a six-game lead for the first wild card, and the right to host that game a week from Tuesday. They trailed the AL East-leading Red Sox by 3.5 games, pending Boston's outcome Friday.
