NEW YORK _ After a day of squandered opportunities, where the Yankees' offense looked mostly helpless against a beleaguered Blue Jays pitching staff, Miguel Andujar stepped to the plate in the seventh inning with a chance to put a dent in a five-run deficit.
Bases loaded. Two outs. A Yankee Stadium crowd that had little to cheer for the previous six innings was ready to erupt.
Andujar came through, launching a grand slam into the left-field stands to bring the Yankees to within one run.
That was as close as they could come.
Some missed chances earlier in the game cost the Yankees as they fell short in an 8-7 loss to Toronto before 43,130 at Yankee Stadium on Saturday.
Didi Gregorius had two home runs and Giancarlo Stanton also added a solo shot, but the rest of the Yankees' offense woke up too late.
Down seven runs to start the bottom of the seventh, the Yankees began chipping away.
Stanton led off with a home run off reliever Ryan Tepera, but that was just the start.
With one out, Gregorius hit a solo shot off Danny Barnes to make it a five-run game.
After Gary Sanchez grounded out, Gleyber Torres doubled and Neil Walker walked to put two runners on.
The Jays went to the bullpen again, bringing in former Yankee and Met Tyler Clippard to try and avoid further damage.
He couldn't.
Clippard walked Luke Voit to bring up Andujar, who with one swing changed the complexion of the game and brought the Yankees to within a run.
The Yankees had chances earlier in the game to put runs on the board but repeatedly failed to do so.
Gregorius and Sanchez walked to start the bottom of the second before Torres reached on an infield single.
But Blue Jays starter Sean Reid-Foley, who lugged a 6.86 ERA into his fourth major-league start on Saturday, struck out Walker, Voit and Brett Gardner to end the inning.
The Yankees had another chance in the third with runners on second and third with two outs, but Sanchez struck out.
Then after Gregorius led off the sixth with a solo home run into the right-field stands, the Yankees again loaded the bases to give themselves a chance to add some more.
But Andrew McCutchen struck out, and just like that, another opportunity was blown.
A bad outing from CC Sabathia put the Yankees in an early hole.
Sabathia had a 1-2-3 first before his day took a quick turn for the worse. He yielded a solo home run to Randal Grichuk to start the second, which was the start of a three-run inning for the Blue Jays.
Sabathia never recovered.
Grichuk hit another solo home run with one out in the third and Kevin Pillar immediately followed that up with a solo shot of his own to put Toronto up, 5-0.
That was Sabathia's final batter as manager Aaron Boone brought in Chad Green.
Sabathia yielded seven hits in just 21/3 innings with no walks and two strikeouts.
The left-hander has not won a game since Aug. 12 and has a 6.37 ERA over his previous five outings.
