TORONTO — What do you get when mixing poor starting pitching, a rare bullpen letdown, sloppy fielding and two calls at first base that hurt?
Even against a team as bad as the Blue Jays, the Yankees couldn’t survive that recipe for defeat Wednesday night, flushing a late three-run lead and dropping an 11-7 decision in front of an announced Rogers Centre gathering of the 16,609 folks who apparently didn’t want to watch the Raptors-Warriors NBA Finals game.
Having dropped the first two tilts of a three-game series against the Blue Jays, the Yankees’ best hope is to avoid being swept by the 23-38 rebuilding Jays on Thursday evening.
In no particular order of importance, here is what killed the Yankees’ hopes of extending their series win streak to 10:
Starter James Paxton didn’t make it out of the fifth and gave up four runs (three earned) and four hits in 4 ²/₃ innings in his second game since coming off the injured list.
Jonathan Holder and Zack Britton combined to allow five runs (three earned) in 1 ²/₃ innings, with the biggest blow being Britton giving up a three-run homer to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the eighth inning, when Toronto scored five runs.
Gio Urshela’s throwing error in the fifth led to a run, as did Gleyber Torres’ in the seventh. Urshela also had a fielding miscue in the seventh, though that didn’t help the Blue Jays score a run.
“We obviously didn’t play our best, gave them a couple of extra outs there, so that’s frustrating,’’ manager Aaron Boone said of his club’s third straight defeat. “Any loss when you fight back to grab a lead is difficult and part of it.’’
Dropped into a 3-0 ditch after two innings by Paxton, the Yankees scored a run in the fourth on a Gary Sanchez homer and three in the sixth when DJ LeMahieu hit a three-run homer for his fourth RBI of the night and a 7-4 lead. After Adam Ottavino and Tommy Kahnle worked around two walks and a single in the sixth, the Yankees asked the other relievers for nine outs.
Instead Teoscar Hernandez hit a two-run double off Jonathan Holder in the seventh, and Guerrero stroked a pitch off his ankles for that three-run homer off Britton in the eighth. Randal Grichuk and ex-Yankee Brandon Drury went back-to-back against Luis Cessa later in the eighth.
“I look back at [the pitch to Guerrero]. It was down but it was down where he swings,’’ said Britton, who until Wednesday hadn’t given up a run in 13 ¹/₃ innings.
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Britton also lamented what happened before Guerrero’s blast. He gave up a one-out single to Danny Jansen, the No. 9 hitter, and walked Lourdes Gurriel Jr. in front of Guerrero.
“The first two guys, if I execute pitches we don’t get to that situation,’’ Britton said.
The loss combined with the Rays victory shaved the Yankees’ lead in the AL East to 1 ½ games over Tampa Bay.
First baseman Luke Voit had a chance to field Urshela’s throw after a spectacular stop by the third baseman on Guerrero, but the ball took a funky bounce and got by Voit, which allowed Gurriel to score from first in the fifth.
“It took a weird hop and kicked right,’’ said Voit, who made an unsuccessful swipe at it. “The turf is funky, but I got to make that play.’’
It was just one of several plays the Yankees didn’t execute and led to their first three-game losing streak since dropping four straight in mid-April (three to the Astros, one to the White Sox).
“Turn the page and try to salvage one [Thursday],’’ said Boone, who has to hope all the ugliness of Wednesday doesn’t bleed into Thursday.
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