NEW YORK — Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider made seven pitching changes on Wednesday.
A few hours later, Schneider gave a short speech in the clubhouse and launched the celebration by yelling “Start spreading the news!” while the Blue Jays doused each other with champagne and beer after wrapping up the American League Division Series against the New York Yankees.
Loud music blared, including “Theme from New York, New York,” the song that plays every time the Yankees win a home game, as the Blue Jays partied.
Jeff Hoffman finished off a four-out save as the Blue Jays used eight pitchers in a bullpen game that resulted in a 5-2 win, clinching the best-of-five series in Game 4.
Toronto advances to the American League Championship Series for the first time since 2016, when it lost in five games to Cleveland. The Blue Jays will host the Seattle Mariners or the Detroit Tigers on Sunday.
The Blue Jays outscored the Yankees 34-19 in the first postseason meeting between the AL East rivals. Toronto won 11 of the teams’ 17 meetings this year, including an 8-5 mark in the regular season to get home-field advantage in the playoffs after the teams were tied atop the AL East with 94 wins.
Hoffman allowed a two-out RBI single to Aaron Judge when he was one strike away from ending the game, but he quickly secured the celebration that began on the mound and spilled into a raucous clubhouse when he fanned Cody Bellinger on a splitter — the same pitch that gave the Yankees extensive trouble in Games 1 and 2 in Toronto.
“You’re kind of mapping out best possible scenarios, and the guys have to go do their part,” Schneider said of running through his bullpen in a close-out contest. “Again, it’s not fun, per se, but I think we view it as a good challenge. And our guys have really kind of accepted that this year and done really well with it.”
Hoffman entered in the eighth after Braydon Fisher allowed a two-out hit by Giancarlo Stanton and then walked Jazz Chisholm Jr. The Toronto closer walked pinch hitter Ben Rice to load the bases but needed only one pitch to retire Austin Wells on a flyout to left to quell the threat.
“I think it can be stressful, but at the same time we’re extremely confident in all the guys,” Hoffman said of the bullpen game. “So there’s not really a pocket where you’re a little worried or anything. ”
Toronto’s Louis Varland opened the game and allowed a single to Judge in 1 1/3 scoreless innings. Less than 24 hours earlier, Judge slugged a 100 mph Varland fastball for a three-run homer off the left field foul pole.
After Mason Fluharty allowed a tying homer to Ryan McMahon in the third inning on Wednesday, Seranthony Dominguez (1-0) got the final two outs of the third and also blanked the Yankees in the fourth.
In the fifth, Ernie Clement and Andres Gimenez started the inning with singles off New York rookie Cam Schlittler. George Springer then lifted a sacrifice fly, putting Toronto up 2-1.
Eight of Toronto’s 12 hits were singles, including an RBI single by Vladimir Guerrrero Jr. in the first inning.
Guerrero hit .529 (9-for-17) with three homers and nine RBIs in the series as the Blue Jays batted .338 and scored first in each game.
“It means a lot to me,” Guerrero said through team interpreter Hector Lebron. “We’re going to the next round, to the Championship Series, and that’s my focus, and it means a lot.”
Nathan Lukes added a two-run single off Yankees reliever Devin Williams in the seventh following a fielding error by Chisholm at second base.
Myles Straw tacked on an RBI single in the eighth for Toronto, which out-hit New York 12-6.
“We didn’t execute enough to win these games,” Stanton said.
Schlittler allowed four runs (two earned) on eight hits and no walks in 6 1/3 innings. After striking out 12 in Game 3 of the wild-card series against the Boston Red Sox last week, the right-hander got only two strikeouts.
The Yankees lost in the Division Series for the third time since manager Aaron Boone took over in 2018. New York matched its win total from last season but pitched to a 8.47 ERA in the series while hitting .250. The Yankees have not won a World Series title since 2009.
“The ending’s the worst,” Boone said. “Especially when you know you have a really good group and a group of guys that really came together so well at the right time, the final couple months. This was a team. It’s a team that played for one another, did a lot of really good things, and we got beat here.”
–Larry Fleisher, Field Level Media
