TORONTO -- After a pair of heated contests peppered by constant arguments, fiery ejections and side-eyed suspicion of sign-stealing, the Yankees and Blue Jays shifted their American League East rivalry into an old-school pitchers’ duel on Wednesday night at Rogers Centre.

Gerrit Cole and Chris Bassitt traded zeros, each seemingly waiting to see who would blink first. That would be decided by the bullpens: Danny Jansen belted a walk-off three-run homer off Wandy Peralta in the 10th inning as the Blue Jays defeated the Yankees, 3-0.

In the 10th, shortstop Anthony Volpe booted a Whit Merrifield grounder for an error before Alejandro Kirk grounded out, with the Yankees having brought outfielder Oswaldo Cabrera in as part of a five-man infield. Jansen followed with a 414-foot drive to the left-center-field seats, sending the Yanks to their second walk-off loss of the year.

“There’s been a lot going on,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Tonight was actually kind of quiet, considering the first two nights -- and, obviously, not a lot of scoring. We’ve just got to wash this one off, come out ready to go and try to win a series tomorrow.”

Indeed, the first two games packed enough drama to greenlight an eight-episode miniseries. We’ve seen Judge’s eyes darting toward the right, caught in high-definition by the Sportsnet television cameras. The Blue Jays responded by insisting that base coaches remain within the painted lines, wary that the Yankees relayed pitch locations or types.

Then, there was Domingo Germán’s ejection and a subsequent 10-game suspension for bringing an extremely sticky pitching hand to the mound on Tuesday evening, and an admission by Jays pitcher Jay Jackson -- since demoted to Triple-A Buffalo -- that he indeed was tipping pitches when Judge blasted a 462-foot bomb off a slider on Monday. So, yeah, there’s been a lot.

“This division, in general, it kind of feels like the old school -- when Boonie played and when I played,” said Brad Wilkerson, the Yankees’ assistant hitting coach and an eight-year big league veteran. “We’ve got to focus on what we have to do in our dugout with our guys. There’s a lot of great teams. We can’t let outside noise distract us.”

Wilkerson found himself in the crosshairs on Tuesday, when Blue Jays manager John Schneider barked at the visiting dugout, appearing to yell: “Shut up, fat boy.” The comment has prompted waves of good-natured ribbing within the Yankees' traveling party, though Wilkerson has returned fire, saying, “I let them know about it, too.”

In Wednesday's almost-relatively-normal contest, the Yanks had few answers for Bassitt, who followed a two-hit shutout against the Braves in his last start by shutting down New York. The Yankees moved only two runners into scoring position against Bassitt, who scattered three hits and a walk over seven innings.

“He’s really crafty,” Cole said. “He has a lot of different pitches, gives you a lot of different looks. Good velocity, good execution. A gritty effort by him, for sure.”

Cole struck out six over six-plus innings, drawing within two of becoming the ninth active Major Leaguer to record 2,000 career strikeouts.

Scattering seven hits, Cole navigated a bases-loaded jam in the third inning and a two-on, one-out challenge in the sixth. He exited with two men on in the seventh, stalking up and down the dugout, upset with himself for creating the situation.

Clay Holmes took Cole off the hook, inducing a Bo Bichette popout, a Daulton Varsho strikeout and a Matt Chapman groundout.

“I’ve got to be better there,” Cole said. “Thankfully, Clay is really, really good at his job. He bailed me out there. We needed to keep the score locked up. He was just fantastic. Honestly, [catcher Jose Trevino] was fantastic all night, too. He was able to pick the right pitches and execute all night.”

Volpe had a rough night after coming off the bench. He struck out as an eighth-inning pinch-hitter, leaving the bases loaded, then turned a nifty double play on an Alejandro Kirk liner. But as he stood at his locker in the visiting clubhouse, the rookie lamented his last play most of all.

“It’s a play I should make,” Volpe said. “I’ve got to back up the pitcher there, and I didn’t. There’s no excuse. I’ve got to trust myself. It was hit hard and I wanted to keep it on the infield. That’s a play I’ve got to make, and a play I’ve made a lot.”