Ernie Clement drove in three early runs off a struggling Marcus Stroman, and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Yankees 8-5 on Friday night, ending New York’s five-game winning streak.
“He’s an aggressive hitter and he’s swinging early,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “He’s doing a good job of recognizing that and kind of getting pitches a little bit more in the zone.”
Aaron Judge hit a two-run homer in the first inning off Kevin Gausman, a 477-foot drive that reached halfway up the left-field bleachers, giving him a major league-leading 101 RBIs. “If it came with a win tonight, that would have been pretty sweet,” Judge said.
Judge became just the fourth Yankees player to have three or more seasons with 40 or more home runs, joining Babe Ruth (11), Lou Gehrig (five), and Mickey Mantle (four).
His homer was the third-longest of Judge’s career and the second-longest in the major leagues this season, behind Jorge Soler’s 478-foot homer for San Francisco at Colorado on July 21. Judge now has six homers against Gausman.
“He’s ridiculous,” Schneider said. “His numbers, you look up, it’s a joke.” Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres was taken out by manager Aaron Boone after three innings because he didn’t hustle.
Torres didn’t run hard out of the batter’s box on a drive off the left-field wall in the second inning, thinking it was a home run, and only reached first base. This mistake cost the Yankees a run when he was thrown out trying to score on Anthony Volpe’s two-out double into the left-field corner in the second inning.
“I just felt like I need to in that spot,” Boone said. Torres agreed with Boone’s decision. “I feel really sorry,” Torres said.
Stroman (7-6) gave up a season-high seven runs and eight hits in a season-low 2 2/3 innings. He was 5-2 with a 2.60 ERA in 12 starts through May and is now 2-4 with a 6.32 ERA in 10 starts since.
“Loss is definitely solely on me. Just didn’t execute. Just out of rhythm mechanically. Had no feel for my pitches,” Stroman said. “Just to put us in that position is very disappointing and unacceptable.”
Gausman gave up five runs — four earned — and eight hits in 4 2/3 innings. “His command wasn’t great tonight, but he made big pitches,” Schneider said.
In a game that started after an 86-minute rain delay, Vladimir Guerrero hit an RBI single and Clement had a two-run double in the first inning. Spencer Horwitz and Clement added run-scoring singles in a four-run third inning, giving their team a 5-2 lead. Brian Serven, a backup catcher who had only one hit in 21 at-bats this season, then got a two-run single off Michael Tonkin to increase the lead to 7-2.
Anthony Volpe hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning, and New York closed the gap to 7-5 when center fielder Daulton Varsho made an error on Austin Wells’ single, allowing Juan Soto to score. Génesis Cabrera prevented further scoring by striking out Jazz Chisholm Jr.
Horwitz added a run-scoring single against Tim Hill in the sixth inning, and Brendon Little (1-1) stranded two more runners when Soto grounded out to end the inning. Chad Green recorded three outs for his eighth save in eight tries.
Torres was thrown out at home on Volpe’s double when left fielder Joey Loperfido threw to shortstop Leo Jiménez. Jiménez’s throw to Serven was off-target but still allowed the catcher to tag Torres out.
George Springer hurt his left shin on a foul ball in the sixth inning and was replaced in right field in the bottom of the seventh. He was scheduled for a scan. “I think it’ll be all right,” Schneider said.
Reliever Enyel De Los Santos, who was acquired from San Diego on Tuesday, managed to get through the seventh inning of his Yankees debut despite allowing a double and hitting a batter.
