TORONTO – The Yankees had the chance they wanted. After five innings of mostly empty at-bats, Aaron Judge came up with the bases loaded and none out, a prime opening to rewrite his postseason story.
Instead, Judge swung through a Kevin Gausman splitter for a crucial strikeout. New York settled for one run, a squandered opportunity that defined its 10-1 loss to the Blue Jays in Saturday’s Game 1 of the American League Division Series.
“I wouldn’t say I was overanxious; if you saw the whole at-bat, I definitely took some tough pitches,” Judge said. “But in the end, I didn’t get the job done. That’s what it comes down to, just not doing your job.”
Rogers Centre remains a house of horrors for the Yankees, who have lost seven of their eight games north of the border this season. Swinging early and often, the Yanks were limited to two baserunners through five frames before finally pressing Gausman with two hits and a walk.
Judge saw eight pitches, fouling off two, before chasing a diving offering low and away.
“Obviously, you’d like to come through there and break the game open,” said Cody Bellinger, who followed with a four-pitch walk that forced in New York’s only run. “It didn’t happen; Gausman came and made some good pitches.”
Judge has six hits in 15 at-bats (.400) this postseason but is still hunting for a signature October moment. Since 2019, Judge is batting .202 (34-for-168) with nine homers and 20 RBIs in the playoffs.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone recently predicted the captain will “have one where he goes crazy.” But it didn’t come Saturday, not against Gausman, who admitted to getting away with some pitches earlier in the Judge at-bat.
“I thought the pitch before really set up the split down and away,” Gausman said. “In that moment, to be honest, I'm fine walking him. He can blow that game right open with one swing.”
After Bellinger’s four-pitch walk, Ben Rice popped up on a hittable pitch – “Benny missed one,” Boone said – and Toronto manager John Schneider turned the game over to his bullpen. Giancarlo Stanton struck out facing Louis Varland, who blew a 100.7 mph heater past him.
“That kind of seemed like the game, right?” Bellinger said.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Alejandro Kirk hit early homers off Luis Gil, who lasted just 2 2/3 innings. Boone made an aggressive call to the bullpen, as the reigning AL Rookie of the Year has struggled to miss bats since returning from injury.
“I was not expecting that,” Gil said through interpreter Marlon Abreu. “At the same time, Boonie is the manager. He makes those calls. This is a playoff game. It’s different than the regular season.”
Tim Hill and Camilo Doval steadied things into the seventh, when Luke Weaver’s issues resurfaced. As in the Wild Card Series opener against the Red Sox, Weaver faced three batters and retired none, including Andrés Giménez’s run-scoring single.
Weaver is the second pitcher in history to face three batters or more and not record an out in each of his first two appearances of a postseason, joining Rick Honeycutt of the 1989 A’s.
“It can click like that, because the stuff is there,” Boone said. “We've just got to get him locked in with his delivery.”
The right-hander said he has been struggling to make mechanical adjustments related to pitch-tipping. Saturday’s outing might prompt Weaver to scrap those late-season changes.
“I don’t really feel like myself,” Weaver said. “I don’t feel like my mind is completely clear to go out there and attack.”
The Blue Jays poured it on late. Fernando Cruz surrendered Nathan Lukes’ two-run double and a Guerrero sacrifice fly. Paul Blackburn surrendered four runs in the eighth, including Kirk’s second homer.
“This obviously sucks today, but we’ve got an opportunity to go home tomorrow with a tied series,” said shortstop Anthony Volpe.
In postseason history, teams to win Game 1 in any best-of-five series have gone on to win the series 113 of 156 times (72.4%). In Division Series with the current 2-2-1 format, teams to win Game 1 at home have advanced 40 of 54 times (74.1%).
“We’re going to keep the same mindset we’ve had all year: Keep focusing on today,” Judge said. “This game is over with. It got out of hand and we couldn’t come back, but we’ve got a big game coming up [Sunday]. We’ve just got to take care of business.”