Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees hits a two-run home run in the first inning of their MLB game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre, in Toronto, on June 30.Cole Burston/Getty Images
Aaron Judge’s two-run homer staked New York to an early lead that the Yankees would never relinquish in a 8-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday.
DJ LeMahieu drove in two more runs with a single and a double as New York (54-32) split the four-game series. Trent Grisham added a two-run double and Ben Rice had an RBI single.
Gerrit Cole (1-1) allowed one run on three hits and a walk over five innings. Last year’s Cy Young Award winner struck out six and lowered his earned-run average to 6.23 in just his second start of the season.
Michael Tonkin, Tim Hill and Josh Maciejewski combined for four innings of scoreless relief.
Justin Turner’s RBI single in the fourth inning was the only run Toronto (38-45) managed to score as its offence continues to run hot and cold.
Kevin Gausman (6-7) gave up seven runs on seven hits and five walks but struck out seven over 4 1/3 innings. Genesis Cabrera, Nate Pearson, Jose Cuas, Chad Green and Bowden Francis came out of the Blue Jays’ bullpen.
Judge quickly got the Yankees on the board, with a towering blast to dead centre off a 94.5 m.p.h. four-seam fastball from Gausman. Judge’s 31st home run of the year flew 423 feet with an exit velocity of 109.8 m.p.h., scoring Juan Soto in the process for a 2-0 lead.
LeMahieu tacked another run on to New York’s edge in the second inning when his hit dropped into left field. That gave Rice time to score from second and advance Austin Wells to second.
A Grisham single loaded the bases and although Gausman struck out Anthony Volpe, Soto drew a walk – the third of the inning – to push Wells across the plate for a 4-0 lead.
Gausman struck out Judge and then induced a popfly from Alex Verdugo to limit the damage and get out of the inning.
Turner replied for Toronto in the third when his basehit to centre field scored Spencer Horwitz from second. It was Turner’s 26th RBI of the season.
Back-to-back doubles in the fifth gave the Yankees an even larger lead.
LeMahieu’s hit to centre field scored Gleyber Torres, then Grisham’s shot to deep right field eluded Toronto outfielder George Springer to cash in LeMahieu and Rice for a 7-1 Yankees advantage.
Rice added another run in the next inning with a double to centre plating Verdugo.