NEW YORK (AP) — 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.
“Kind of fitting that it took everyone to win today,” said manager John Schneider, soaked in bubbly from the clubhouse celebration inside Yankee Stadium.
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.
AL East champion Toronto, wearing its lucky caps with the white panels, 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.
“It feels great,” Guerrero said through a translator. “Everybody was just together since the first day. You could tell that something special was there.”
Jeff Hoffman retired Austin Wells with the bases loaded to end the eighth inning and got four outs to earn his first postseason save, advancing the surprising Blue Jays to their eighth AL Championship Series.
Toronto's only pennants came in 1992 and '93, when the club won consecutive World Series crowns.
“Maybe some people don’t believe in the team through the year, but I always remind everyone that we have an entire country behind us that believe in us, and hopefully we can get the World Series back to Canada,” Guerrero said.
Ryan McMahon homered for the wild-card Yankees, unable to stave off elimination for a fourth time this postseason 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.
“We got beat here. Credit to the Blue Jays,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “They took it to us this series.”
Judge extended New York's season one last time with an RBI single off the left-wall with two outs in the ninth. Hoffman then struck out Cody Bellinger, and happy Blue Jays players poured out of the dugout to bounce in unison near the mound.
About 25 minutes later, a group of Toronto fans was still chanting “Let's go Blue Jays!” behind the third base dugout.
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 defense, 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 left veteran right-handed starters Max Scherzer and Chris Bassitt off the ALDS roster, choosing instead to carry four left-handed relievers against the Bronx Bombers as the Blue Jays pointing toward a bullpen parade in Game 4 if the series went that far.
Turned out to be a winning decision.
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 postseason game and start the next day.
Varland worked 1 1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, and seven relievers followed as Schneider mixed and matched with planning help from his coaching staff. No pitcher got more than five outs — but all of them 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 postseason 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.
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 postseason 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.
“He gave us a really good chance to win a baseball game,” Boone said.
Up next
Toronto went 4-3 against Detroit this season and 4-2 versus Seattle. Veteran right-hander Kevin Gausman and rookie Trey Yesavage, the Blue Jays' top two starters in the ALDS, will be fully rested for the first two games of the ALCS.
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