Gerrit Cole pitched eight excellent innings, the emergent Gary Sanchez hit a two-run homer and Aroldis chapman managed to escape trouble in the ninth inning to guide the New York Yankees to a tight 3-2 win on Wednesday over the Toronto Blue Jays.
Sanchez’s 10th home run of the season in the seventh inning gave the Yankees back-to-back wins with timely hits of emergent, a day after Clint Frazier broke the tie with a double in the eighth inning of Tuesday’s 6-5 win.
Chapman allowed hits to the first two batters in the ninth inning, putting runners on second and third with no out, but managed to escape to sign his 14th save. Cole (8-3) limited the Blue Jays to four hits.
Marcus Semien and Cavan Biggio homered for Toronto, which has lost three in a row and five of its last seven games. Ross Striplin (2-4) limited New York to three hits and two walks in 6 1/3 innings, and matched his best performance of the season with nine strikeouts.
In the ninth inning, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. opened the episode with a single and Teoscar Hernández followed with a double to right field. After striking out Randal Grichuk, Chapman took a grounder and started a play in which Sánchez knocked out Guerrero, who was trying to return to third base. The decision was upheld after reviewing the video for 70 seconds.
Chapman retired Lourdes Gurriel Jr. with a fly ball to end the game.
For the Yankees, the Dominican Gary Sánchez 2-1 with two RBIs and one scored; Miguel Andújar 4-1 with one scored. Venezuelans Gleyber Torres 3-0; Rougned Odor 4-0. Colombian Gio Urshela 4-0.
For the Blue Jays, the Dominicans Teóscar Hernández 4-2; Vladimir Guerrero Jr. 4-1; Santiago Espinal from 1-0. Cuban Lourdes Gurriel Jr. 4-0.
.