Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and George Springer each drove in a run, and eight Toronto pitchers shut down the New York Yankees in a 5-2 victory Wednesday night that sent the Blue Jays to the American League Championship Series for the first time in nine years.
Nathan Lukes provided a two-run single and Addison Barger had three of Toronto's 12 hits as the pesky Blue Jays, fouling off tough pitches and consistently putting the ball in play, bounced right back after blowing a five-run lead in Tuesday night's loss at Yankee Stadium.
AL East champion Toronto took the best-of-five Division Series 3-1 and will host Game 1 in the best-of-seven ALCS on Sunday against the Detroit Tigers or Seattle Mariners.
Those teams are set to decide their playoff series Friday in Game 5 at Seattle.
Jeff Hoffman retired Austin Wells with the bases loaded to end the eighth and earned a four-out save for the Blue Jays, headed to their eighth AL Championship Series. Toronto's only pennants came in 1992 and '93, when the club won consecutive World Series crowns.
Ryan McMahon homered for the wild-card Yankees, unable to stave off elimination for a fourth time this post-season as they failed to repeat as AL champions.
Despite a terrific playoff performance from Aaron Judge following his previous October troubles, the 33-year-old star slugger remains without a World Series ring. New York is still chasing its 28th title and first since 2009.
Lukes made it 4-1 with a two-run single after an error by Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. cost rookie starter Cam Schlittler a chance to get through the seventh with an inning-ending double play.
Myles Straw, who came in off the bench for outfield defence, added an RBI single in the eighth after Alejandro Kirk's leadoff double.
With the score tied 1-all, Ernie Clement singled leading off the Toronto fifth and went to third when No. 9 batter Andrés Giménez bounced a single through the middle. Clement, who had nine hits in the series, scored on Springer’s sacrifice fly.
Toronto opener Louis Varland, who gave up game-changing homers Tuesday to Judge and Chisholm in relief, became the first pitcher in major league history to lose a post-season game and start the next day.
Varland worked 1 1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, and a parade of seven relievers followed. None of them got more than five outs — but all were effective.
On the other side, Schlittler joined Dakota Hudson (2019 for St. Louis) as the only rookies in big league history to make their first two post-season starts in potential elimination games.
Schlittler was coming off one of the most dominant pitching performances in playoff annals, when he struck out 12 and walked none over eight innings to beat rival Boston 4-0 in the winner-take-all Game 3 of their Wild Card Series last Thursday at Yankee Stadium.
This time, the 24-year-old right-hander fell behind 1-0 after six pitches. Springer hit a leadoff double and scored when Guerrero lined an 0-2 cutter just inside the right-field line for an RBI single.
With two on, left fielder Cody Bellinger sprinted 113 feet for a sliding catch at the line that saved at least one run — maybe two.
Batting ninth, McMahon tied it when he fought back from 0-2 to a full count leading off the third and reached across the plate to hook an 83 mph sweeper from left-hander Mason Fluharty over the short porch in right field for his first post-season homer.
The 6-foot-6 Schlittler struck out only two, but he didn’t walk a batter in 6 1/3 efficient innings. He was charged with four runs — two earned — and eight hits.
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Toronto went 4-3 against Detroit this season and 4-2 versus Seattle.
