TORONTO – On a crisp, fall night with the roof open at Rogers Centre, the Toronto Blue Jays – and their vocal fanbase – reminded the Yankees that nothing is settled yet.
Immediately, the Blue Jays socked around Gerrit Cole, but the Yankees’ ace lasted six innings.
And the Yanks fought back from deficits of 4-0 and 5-2 before their bullpen finally sprung a leak.
Bo Bichette’s second homer of the game was a tie-breaking solo shot off Clay Holmes in the eighth inning, lifting the Blue Jays to a 6-5 win before 29,601 enthusiastic fans.
The Yankees (90-68) still hold the top AL wild card spot with four games to play, but the Blue Jays (88-70) inched closer to the second spot, currently occupied by Boston.
Cole was not having his best night, while Jose Berrios was busy retiring the Yankees’ first 14 batters on Wednesday.
All told, Cole yielded five runs on nine hits – including two home runs – with no walks and six strikeouts.
Berrios retired the first two batters in the fifth before a double by Gleyber Torres, RBI single by Gio Urshela and RBI double by Brett Gardner cut the lead to 4-2.
Berrios was gone after six innings (three runs) and lefty reliever Tim Mayza was on the mound when Kyle Higashioka smoked a game-tying, two-run single on an 0-2 pitch to make it 5-5 in the seventh.
In his first appearance back from the injured list, Jonathan Loaisiga tossed a fast, scoreless seventh inning against the top of the Toronto order.
But Loaisiga is not yet built up to go multiple innings and Bichette led off the eighth with his homer to center off Holmes.
With the tying run at second base in the ninth, Tyler Wade flied out against closer Jordan Romano to end it.
Manager Aaron Boone had already used Luke Voit and Gary Sanchez as pinch-hitters and just had Rougned Odor on the bench.
Making his first appearance in a week, Voit struck out with two runners aboard in the seventh, prior to Higashioka's game-tying hit.
Jays jump out vs. Cole
By tearing off seven straight wins, the Yankees sent Cole out in a superior position.
Their uncertain status as AL wild card contenders was last week’s concern.
Following Tuesday’s series-opening victory against Toronto, the Yankees held a two-game edge over the Red Sox for the top spot and a three-game lead on the Blue Jays.
In the giddy run-up to Wednesday, Cole was Toronto’s worst nightmare, making his final regular season start before Tuesday’s elimination wild card game.
But the Blue Jays crashed that party early, with plenty of surprising hard contact against Cole.
It began instantly, with George Springer’s sharp leadoff double over the head of left fielder Joey Gallo and Marcus Semien’s two-run homer, quite a bit deeper over Gallo’s head.
Springer’s two-out RBI single scored Santiago Espinal, who doubled in the second inning.
Bo Bichette’s homer in the third made it 4-0 against Cole, but Toronto’s run in the fifth was a gift.
Leading off the inning, Springer sent a fly ball to shallow left that dropped for a double between Gallo and shortstop Gio Urshela, who exchanged blank looks.
Urshela kept pushing toward the outfield, but Gallo failed to take charge and it became a costly no-play when MVP candidate Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ripped an RBI double to left for a 5-2 lead.
