TORONTO — The Yankees 11-game winning streak came to an end Wednesday night in a 2-1 loss to the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.
Aaron Boone wasn’t around to see the end of it.
The Yankees manager, irate at a pair of borderline called strikes on Aaron Judge during an eighth-inning at-bat, was thrown out by plate umpire Marty Foster, the pair going nose-to-nose in a heated discussion before Boone eventually left the field.
The Yankees (18-7), still with the Majors’ best record even after the loss, did not get sparked by the ejection — Boone’s second this season and 19th overall as manager — though they did make it interesting in the ninth (Judge struck out to end the eighth).
Jordan Romano allowed back-to-back one-out singles to Giancarlo Stanton — who was replaced by pinch runner Tim Locastro — and Josh Donaldson. Romano, struck out Aaron Hicks swinging but walked Joey Gallo, who homered in the third, to load the bases for Isiah Kiner-Falefa. The shortstop, among the Yankees’ hottest hitters the last three weeks, grounded to third, allowing Romano to record his 12th save, which allowed the second-place Blue Jays (16-10) to avoid getting swept (the Yankees challenged the bang-bang last play at first, which was confirmed).
The Yankees, the eighth-inning fireworks aside with Foster, were not done in by the umpiring. They simply did not hit against Toronto lefty Yusei Kikuchi and four Blue Jays relievers.
Nestor Cortes Jr., who came in 1-0 with a 1.31 ERA, was not sharp but still allowed just two runs and four hits in his four innings. He walked four and struck out three.
Michael King, well on his way to an All-Star bid as a reliever if this kind of performance continues, struck out three over three perfect innings in relief, lowering his ERA to 0.51.
The Yankees, held to five hits, went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and stranded seven.
After Kikuchi struck out two Yankees in a perfect 13-pitch top of the second, the Blue Jays took the lead in the bottom half when Matt Chapman crushed a full-count cutter to dead center, his fifth homer making it 1-0.
It didn’t take long for the Yankees to tie it. Gallo, back in the lineup after missing three straight games having been pulled Saturday night in Kansas City with tightness in his left groin, led off the third by hammering a first-pitch, 95-mph fastball to left, his third homer tying it at 1-1.
The Blue Jays retook the lead in the bottom half, rallying with two outs in what would be a 31- pitch inning.
After striking out Bradley Zimmer and Springer to start the inning, Cortes allowed a Bo Bichette double, the shortstop’s fifth hit of the series to that point. Vlad Guerrero Jr. fell behind 0-and-2 before reaching into the lower part of the strike zone and lining a 92-mph fastball to center, the RBI single making it 2-1.
The Yankees blew a good scoring chance in the sixth.
Kyle Higashioka, off to a 6-for-45 (.133) start at the plate, led off with a double and went to second on LeMahieu’s groundout to second. But Judge took a called third strike on a borderline full-count pitch that appeared low and Rizzo fouled out to third.
Kikuchi, who came in 0-1 with a 5.52 ERA, allowed one run and three hits over six innings in which he walked one and struck out seven.
Righthander David Phelps, drafted and developed by the Yankees, took over in the seventh and got the first batter he faced, Stanton, to ground out. But after back-to-back walks to Josh Donaldson and Aaron Hicks, Toronto manager Charlie Montoyo brought on the only lefty in his bullpen, Tim Mayza, to face Gallo.
Mayza struck out Gallo swinging at a 1-and-2 slider, then got Kiner-Falefa to ground to third.
