NEW YORK _ Aaron Boone often has found sunlight in the darkest of alleys.
But it's becoming increasingly difficult to do that with Sonny Gray.
After several days of some at-times-breathless media dissection of an altered delivery, hand positioning and Gray desiring to become more "athletic" on the mound, the right-hander turned in a performance remarkably similar to his other 2018 outings.
If you haven't been paying attention, that's not a good thing.
Handed a pair of two-run leads, Gray nonetheless failed to get through four innings in an 8-5 loss to the Blue Jays on another frosty night at Yankee Stadium that included a wind-chill of 36 degrees by game's end.
Gray, coming off an erratic outing April 12 in Boston in which he allowed six runs in three innings, allowed five runs, five hits and four walks in 31/3 innings Friday, swelling his ERA to 8.27 in four starts.
The Yankees, who got two-run homers by Tyler Austin and Giancarlo Stanton and a solo shot by Miguel Andujar but had exactly two at-bats with runners in scoring position (they went 0-for-2), fell to 9-9.
The surprising Blue Jays, behind three RBIs from Teoscar Hernandez, including a two-run homer, and a three-RBI night by Lourdes Gurriel Jr., who made his big-league debut, improved to 13-6.
Toronto right-hander Marco Estrada allowed five runs and seven hits in five innings. Three Toronto relievers got the ball to Roberto Osuna, who worked a scoreless ninth for his sixth save.
After Gray retired the Blue Jays in order in a 10-pitch first and stranded two runners in the second, the Yankees gave him a lead in the bottom of the inning. Aaron Hicks walked with one out and Austin lined a 2-and-1 fastball to right for his third homer of the season and a 2-0 lead.
Hernandez tied it in the third with his second homer of the season, but the Yankees went right back at Estrada in the bottom half. Didi Gregorius blooped a two-out single to left and Stanton lined an outside fastball over the right-field wall for a two-run shot that gave the Yankees a 4-2 lead. To that point, Stanton was 4-for-39 with 20 strikeouts and one homer at the Stadium this season.
Gray again could not hold the two-run lead. Russell Martin led off with a double into the gap in left-center and Kendrys Morales sliced a drive to left that bounced into the stands for a double that made it 4-3.
Kevin Pillar roped a single to left, but the slow-footed Morales couldn't score. He would, though. An out later, Gurriel _ a highly touted Blue Jays prospect called up earlier in the day from Double-A New Hampshire _ delivered his first career hit, a two-run single up the middle that gave the Blue Jays a 5-4 lead.
When Granderson walked, Boone had seen enough, bringing on Domingo German. He walked Hernandez to load the bases but got Justin Smoak to fly to short center, then got Solarte to fly softly to left for the third out.
With two outs in the bottom half, Andujar, who hit his first career homer Tuesday night, added No. 2, punching a 1-and-1 fastball to right-center to tie it at 5. That gave him four doubles, a triple and two home runs in his last four games.
Toronto took a 7-5 lead in the fifth. Martin led off with a walk and Morales beat the shift with a grounder to left. German struck out Pillar and, after a passed ball, walked Aledmys Diaz to load the bases. Gurriel fell behind 0-and-2 but singled to right to make it 6-5. German struck out Granderson but walked Hernandez to force home a run and make it 7-5.
Yangervis Solarte's leadoff home run against Adam Warren in the sixth made it 8-5.
