NEW YORK _ The Yankees' defense remains a glaring issue. They committed their 18th error of the season Thursday night against the Blue Jays, the most in the American League. Gary Sanchez allowed two passed balls on two catchable pitches, one of which led directly to a Toronto run.
And yet the Yankees still came away with a victory.
Behind a go-ahead single from Didi Gregorius in the fifth and a home run from Aaron Judge in the eighth, the Yankees topped the Blue Jays, 4-3, in the series opener at Yankee Stadium.
CC Sabathia returned from a 12-day stint on the disabled list and started for the Bombers. The sloppy defense forced Sabathia from the contest after just 41/3 innings and 71 pitches. He surrendered two runs, both of them unearned, before Chad Green replaced him in the fifth.
The Yankees scored the game's first two runs in the second. With runners on second and third, Tyler Wade delivered an RBI groundout to second. Then Ronald Torreyes dropped a soft liner in left field to bring home another run and give the Yankees a 2-0 lead.
The Blue Jays responded with a run in the third when Sanchez dropped a Sabathia changeup with a man on third base. They tied the game in the fourth on an RBI single from catcher Luke Maile, scoring Yangervis Solarte, who led the inning off by reaching on a Torreyes throwing error.
Judge tied Gregorius for the team lead with his fifth home run of the season in the seventh inning. Former Yankee Tyler Clippard hung a 3-2 splitter over the heart of the plate, and Judge blasted a 394-foot moonshot dinger into the left-field seats. The homer extended the lead to 4-2 and proved paramount an inning later, when the Blue Jays cut into the deficit. Judge, who also walked in the first and reached on a fielder's choice in the fifth, improved his on-base percentage to .481.
David Robertson came on to work the eighth and immediately pitched himself into a jam. The right-hander allowed a single to Teoscar Hernandez before issuing back-to-back walks to load the bases with no outs. Robertson then struck out Kevin Pillar, but he couldn't escape the inning unscathed. A bloop single from Aledmys Diaz brought home a run. Robertson, though, protected the lead by retiring Randal Grichuk (strikeout) and Maile (flyout) to end the inning.
The Yankee bullpen allowed one run over 42/3 innings. Aroldis Chapman earned his third save of the season with a scoreless ninth.
Giancarlo Stanton snapped an 0-for-15 skid with an infield hit in the fifth inning. He's now 4-for-38 this season at the Stadium.
