TORONTO — For one day, at least, all was right in the Yankees’ world again.
Aaron Judge continued his strong game, hitting his 31st home run of the season, Juan Soto proved healed enough from a bruised right hand to get into the lineup at the last minute, and Gerrit Cole looked more like Gerrit Cole in his third and longest start of the season.
Amazingly, even the player at the bottom of the rankings had one day.
It all led to an 8-1 victory over the Blue Jays on Sunday afternoon at Rogers Centre, helping the Yankees split their fourth straight game and avoid a five-game losing streak.
Eight of the Yankees’ nine starters recorded at least one hit in a balanced attack that showed the Yankees’ offense in good form for the second time in their past three games against the Blue Jays (38-45).
The Yankees (54-32) got a boost when Soto was inserted into the lineup just minutes before the first pitch after undergoing a hand test during pregame training and receiving the clearance to play.
The effort paid off quickly, as Soto hit a 106.3 mph single in his first at-bat and then scored on a two-run homer by smashing a Kevin Gausman fastball to center field by Judge.
It was the first time in the past 11 games that the Yankees have taken the lead. They have shown a knack for coming from behind this season, but on Sunday they didn’t let an early deficit get them underway, jumping out to a 2-0 lead and sealing an easy victory.
Cole was successful, allowing just one run in five innings while pitching up to 90 innings. After a rough start to Tuesday’s game against the Mets at Citi Field, where he gave up four home runs, the right-hander played much better, striking out six and walking one.
Cole’s fastball velocity also remained consistent, averaging 95.8 mph, and he had good control of the ball for the most part, even though two of his fastest pitches were hit by Danny Jansen and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
Gausman appeared to hit Judge in the back with a fastball in the fourth inning in retaliation for a Guerrero hit by pitch, but things didn’t get any worse from there.
Ben Rice had another good batting performance today, going 1-for-3 with 2 walks and a double with 1 RBI, with those 2 walks being key in the comeback.
Gleyber Torres also recorded a multi-hit game for the third consecutive game since the two-day “reset,” and DJ LeMahieu also had a good day with two hits in five at-bats, one double, and two RBIs.
The Yankees took a 4-1 lead in the fifth inning when LeMahieu hit an RBI double to get Gausman out, then Trent Grisham hit a two-run double off left-handed relief pitcher Genesis Cabrera to extend the lead to 7-1.
