TORONTO -- Ben Rice cracked the Yankees’ second tie-breaking ninth-inning homer in as many games, a two-run blast that lifted his team to an 8-3 victory over the Blue Jays on Sunday at Rogers Centre.
Following the script of Paul Goldschmidt’s deciding homer on Saturday, Rice connected with a Braydon Fisher slider for his team-leading 19th home run of the season, a Statcast-projected 381-foot knock that cleared the right-field wall.
José Caballero broke the game open by adding a three-run homer off Tommy Nance.
The Yankees claimed the series’ rubber game as Anthony Volpe drove in a pair of runs, stroking a run-scoring single in the second inning and another in the sixth. Ali Sánchez picked up his first hit and RBI in a Yankees uniform, contributing a run-scoring double off Patrick Corbin in the second inning.
For the second consecutive start, Will Warren had to grind. The right-hander scattered eight hits over four innings, limiting damage to a pair of runs.
Kazuma Okamoto reached on a run-scoring single in the third, a play that included an Amed Rosario throwing error, and Nathan Lukes tied the game with an RBI single in the fourth. Warren threw 98 pitches (62 for strikes), coming off a 4 1/3-inning effort against the Guardians in which he tossed 91 pitches.
Davis Schneider hit a game-tying homer off Jake Bird in the sixth. Blue Jays manager John Schneider was ejected in the eighth inning for arguing a balk called on Jeff Hoffman.