Marcus Semien continued his home run binge with a solo shot, Alejandro Kirk homered twice and the red-hot Toronto Blue Jays extended their winning streak to six games Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium with a 5-1 victory over the New York Yankees, who lost ace Gerrit Cole to a hamstring injury.
The Blue Jays (75-62) won for the ninth time in 10 games and for the sixth time in eight meetings in New York this season.
Semien connected in the fifth after Cole exited. The Yankees said Cole departed with two outs in the fourth because of left hamstring tightness.
It was Semien’s career-high 38th homer and the second baseman’s sixth in as many games this month.
Cole was pulled after Reese McGuire’s sacrifice fly gave Toronto a 3-1 lead. After the throw from center fielder Aaron Judge skipped off his glove, Cole motioned for the trainer.
He was lifted after briefly getting checked out on the mound by trainer Tim Lentych. Albert Abreu then came on to pitch.
Cole allowed three runs (two earned) and five hits in 3 2/3 innings.
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Kirk homered off Cole in the second and went deep again in the eighth as Toronto upped its major league-leading total to 213 homers.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. preceded McGuire’s sacrifice fly with a sacrifice fly of his own earlier in the fourth that snapped a 1-1 tie.
Anthony Rizzo had an RBI single for the Yankees (78-60), who dropped their fourth straight on a night where they hit several balls to the warning track. New York began Tuesday with a half-game lead over the Boston Red Sox for the AL’s first wild card spot and lost for the eighth time in 10 games following a 13-game winning streak.
Toronto’s Steven Matz (11-7) allowed one run on seven hits in six innings to tie a career-high for wins. The left-hander struck out six, walked none and beat the Yankees for the second time in New York.
Matz tied his career high for wins set in 2019 when he was with the New York Mets, who dealt him to Toronto after last season.
Joakim Soria pitched a scoreless seventh. Tim Mayza tossed a perfect eighth and Jordan Romano finished up.
–Field Level Media