TORONTO — The good vibes the Yankees carried across the border are apparently worth nothing in Canadian currency.
Instead, they are right back where they found themselves a few days ago, facing a 1-0 series deficit — this time with a wallop.
The biggest Yankees bats came up small in key spots, Luis Gil got tagged in an abbreviated start and then Luke Weaver and the bullpen blew things open late, sinking the Yankees in a 10-1 loss to the Blue Jays in Game 1 of the ALDS on Saturday at a raucous Rogers Centre.
“This game’s over with,” Aaron Judge said. “It got out of hand. We couldn’t come back. But we’ve got a big game [Sunday] and just [have to] take care of business.”
If the Yankees are going to get back into this round like they did in the wild-card series, they are going to need a better effort from Max Fried in Game 2 on Sunday and more life from their offense.
They are also going to have to prove they can win here, after falling to 1-7 at Rogers Centre this year.
Even after Gil lasted just 2 ²/₃ innings while giving up solo home runs to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Alejandro Kirk, the game began to fall apart for the Yankees in the sixth inning. They had the bases loaded with no outs and the heart of their order due up in a 2-0 game, but only came away with one run, in large part because Judge and Giancarlo Stanton both struck out.
In a matter of minutes, all of the Yankees’ newfound momentum was extinguished, sending the sellout crowd of 44,655 into a frenzy.
“Obviously you’d like to come through there and break the game open. It didn’t happen,” said Cody Bellinger, who drove in the only run on a bases-loaded walk. “That kind of seemed like the game, right?”
Weaver then put an end to any comeback hopes the Yankees might have had in the seventh inning, struggling again while issuing a walk and back-to-back singles that made it 3-1 and ended his outing before he could record an out.
The two inherited runners came in to score off Fernando Cruz on a double by Nathan Lukes before Guerrero hit a sacrifice fly that extended the Blue Jays lead to 6-1.
In two outings this postseason, Weaver has faced six batters and retired none of them, getting charged for five runs on four hits and two walks.
He had struggled for stretches during the regular season, looking like a shell of his 2024 self, but finished well, giving the Yankees hope they could count on him.
Weaver indicated on Saturday that he has been fighting his mechanics after making an adjustment to avoid tipping his pitches, though he is running out of time to get right.
“Baseball seems to be overwhelming a bit at the moment when the results aren’t on your side,” he said. “But I don’t walk away from these outings trying to be too hard on myself because, ultimately, I feel like I’m really close.”
Kirk, who like Guerrero has become a Yankees killer over the years, hit his second home run of the game in the eighth inning off Paul Blackburn, who went on to give up three more runs in mop-up duty as the game turned into a laugher.
Kevin Gausman cruised through five shutout innings on just 50 pitches, with the Yankees mustering just a pair of harmless singles. He had retired 10 straight and had a 2-0 lead entering the sixth inning before Anthony Volpe led off with a double off the left field wall.
Austin Wells followed with a single and Trent Grisham worked a full-count walk, and suddenly the Yankees were in business with the bases loaded and no outs.
The stage was set for Judge, who had singled off Gausman in the first inning, to have a moment. But after battling for a full count, Judge chased a low-and-away splitter for Strike 3.
“In that moment, to be honest, I’m fine walking him,” Gausman said. “He can blow that game right open with one swing. So kind of knowing that, the whole at-bat I was trying to go down and away with the split, left a couple kind of too good. But that was a good pitch.”
After Bellinger’s walk made it 2-1, Ben Rice popped out, at which point the Blue Jays went to righty reliever Louis Varland to face Stanton, who whiffed at a 101 mph fastball to leave the bases loaded.
“It’s Game 1, we have a lot of games to play,” Weaver said. “We expect to do our job to push it all the way to what helps achieve it for us. … Ultimately, it’s about flushing it.”
