TORONTO _ The Yankees are officially headed where few once thought they would go: the playoffs. They clinched at least a wild-card spot Saturday afternoon with a 5-1 victory over the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.
The Yankees (86-68), still are mathematically alive in the race for the AL East title but are all but certain to host the American League wild-card game Oct. 3.
Many of the elements they believe will make them a tough out in the postseason were on display Saturday as they won for the 15th time in their last 20 games.
There was power _ Greg Bird and Todd Frazier homered _ and solid starting pitching from Sonny Gray. And, of course, more terrific work by the bullpen, with Chad Green, David Robertson and Aroldis Chapman combining for three perfect innings.
Bird's three-run homer in the fifth inning gave the Yankees a 3-1 lead, one that Gray made stand up. The right-hander, a victim of poor run support during much of his time with the Yankees after being acquired in late July, allowed a run and four hits in six innings and lowered his ERA with the Yankees to 3.11. He is 10-11 and has a 3.31 ERA overall.
Gray's biggest mistake was a 1-and-0 fastball that Teoscar Herandez rocketed to dead center with one out in the third to give the Blue Jays (72-83) a 1-0 lead. But Bird's homer erased that.
Green struck out two in the seventh, giving him 101 strikeouts in 66 1/3 innings, and Robertson _ given a 4-1 lead by Frazier's 27th homer _ struck out two in the eighth.
Gary Sanchez doubled and scored on Starlin Castro's infield single in the ninth to make Chapman's appearance a non-save situation. Former Yankee Rob Refsnyder grounded out to end it.
Toronto right-hander Joe Biagini came in 3-11 with a 5.33 ERA but brought a 1-0 lead into the top of the fifth. Chase Headley led off with a walk and stole second. Jacoby Ellsbury struck out but Castro walked to bring up Bird. He swung at a first-pitch cutter and hammered it to right field for his sixth homer of the season.
In the sixth, Gray allowed a leadoff walk to Justin Smoak and a one-out walk to Kendrys Morales but was saved when Brett Gardner ran down Kevin Pillar's drive to left-center and robbed him of an extra-base hit. Ryan Goins, who hit a grand slam in the Yankees' 8-1 loss on Friday night, grounded to short for the third out.
The Yankees remained four games behind the Red Sox with eight to play, and Boston has a magic number of four to clinch the AL East title. With Minnesota playing Detroit late Saturday afternoon, the Yankees' win reduced their magic number to clinch the top wild-card spot to three.
Just as the Yankees began the season with a 38-23 stretch, they have gone 38-23 in their last 61 games. In between was a 10-22 slump that dropped them to 48-45 on July 19.
