Thud. Blue Jay Bullpen Day Eliminates Yanks. Toronto 5 NY 2

October 9, 2025 paperbacklou 2025 0
Ryan McMahon makes spectacular catch while slipping in foul territory in the top of 7th.

All night long Yankee fans were poised for a special, electric night at Yankee Stadium. And all night long — it never materialized.

The Blue Jays opened with a reliever and kept changing relievers all night — throwing 8 (eight) pitchers at the Yanks — and that group outdueled Cam Schlittler and NY 5-2 to win the ALDS series 3 games to 1, and end the Yankees’ season.

On a beautiful — October chill in the air — Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium. The full house was cheering the Yanks on all night and seemed ready to explode at any moment — like when Austin Wells came up in the bottom of the 8th with the bases loaded and 2 outs, NY down 5-1. But Wells hit a fly ball to left that was caught — and the magic moment never happened.

It was a nail-biter into the 7th inning — Toronto up 2-1 with Cam Schlittler pitching well in the big game.  But Jazz Chisholm Jr. booted a double-play grounder that would have ended the inning, and Devin Williams came in to get a big strikeout, but then allow a 2-out, 2-RBI single by Nathan Lukes to make it a 4-1 game.

The Yanks played tremendous defense all night except for that error.

Camilo Doval put the Yanks in a deeper hole by allowing a run in the 8th. Down 5-1 in the 9th, Jasson Dominguez aka The Martian finally got an at bat in the postseason, and ripped a leadoff double, and Aaron Judge — who did his part in this game (2 for 4 with a walk) — ripped a shot off the leftfield wall for an RBI single (just missing a homer). But Cody Bellinger struck out and the Blue Jays celebrated their 1st playoff win in 32 years.

Boone’s Thoughts

“The ending is the worst, especially when you know that you have a really good group — and a group of guys that really came together so well at the right time — the final couple of months,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards. “This was a team. It was a team that played for one another and did a lot of really good things. But we got beat here — credit to the Blue Jays and the year they had. They beat us in this series. Simple as that.”

1. Schlittler Pitched Great

With all Yankee starters getting beat up in the first 3 games — Luis Gil, Max Fried, Will Warren (in relief), and Carlos Rodon — the pressure was on against Cam Schlittler to show something against Toronto.

And he did well. He was in command all night.

He got into some trouble in the 1st inning — but got out of it by allowing only 1 run.

It started with a leadoff double by George Springer, and a 1-out RBI single by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. for a 1-0 Toronto lead.

Addison Barger followed with a single to right moving Guerrero to 3rd.

Bellinger Tremendous Play in 1st

But with 1st and 3rd, 1 out — Schlittler got Alejandro Kirk to foul out to Austin Wells behind the plate, and then got some help from Cody Bellinger in left — making a spectacular sliding play on a shor fly by Nathan Lukes to save a run and end the inning.

Volpe Tremendous Defensive Play in 2nd

In the 2nd, Schlittler got help from Anthony Volpe at shortstop — who made a tremendous back-to-the-plate catch in short left on a pop fly by Ernie Clement for the 2nd out of a 1-2-3 inning.

2. Toronto Pitched Reliever After Reliever with No Hickups

Toronto kept changing relief pitchers to get lefty-lefty or righty-righty matchups. They threw 8 pitchers — guys the Yanks had hit earlier in the series — but not on this night.

Righty Louis Varland, lefty Mason Fluharty, righty Seranthony Dominguez, lefty Eric Lauer, righty Yariel Rodriguez, lefty Brendon Little, righty Brayan Fisher, and righty Jeff Hoffman combined to beat NY. The Yanks only had 2 hits and 1 run into the 7th inning.

3. McMahon Ties Game 1-1 with HR in 3rd

Toronto’s strategy backfired in the 3rd when lefty Ryan McMahon tied the game with a solo HR to right in the 3rd inning off lefty reliever Mason Fluharty.

4. Schlittler Has Hickup in 5th — But Remains in Command

Schlittler pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 3rd as well, then got in and out of trouble in the 4th — allowing a leadoff doubly by Addison Barger, but getting line out, fly out, and strike out (of Anthony Santander) to end the inning with the score tied 1-1.

Schlittler had a hickup in the top of the 5th — consecutive singles to lead off the inning by Ernie Clement and Andres Gimenez, then a sac fly by George Springer to make it a 2-1 game. But Schlittler got the next two outs — a groundout and strike out of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. looking at a 3-2 pitch and motored on.

Schlittler pitched a shutout 6th — single, fly out, double play. The score stayed 2-1.

5. Jazz Error Dooms Schlittler & Yanks in 7th

It was a 2-1 game Toronto in the 7th — a nail biter. Yankee Stadium was just waiting for the Yankee offense to explode against someone in the Toronto bullpen.

Meanwhile Schlittler was holding fort. Ryan McMahon helped Schlittler with a tremendous catch of an Anthony Santander pop up in foul territory — McMahon slipping on the dirt but still making the grab.

Ernie Clement = Yankee Killer

And then Ernie Clement — Yankee killer in this series who — singled to right.

Jazz Error

Schlittler got next batter Andrews Gimenez to hit a double-play grounder to 2nd to end the inning — Not — as Jazz Chisholm Jr. allowed it to get through him for a single to center.

Devin Gets Big K But Yields 2-Out, 2-RBI Hit

That sent Cam to the showers — with Devin Williams coming into a 1st and 3rd, 1 out situation. Devin struck out George Springer on a 1-2 air-bender in a 7-pitch duel with Springer fouling off 3 pitches beforehand.

But with 2 outs, Nathan Lukes singled to center for 2 runs and it was 4-1 Toronto.

6. Doval Allows Run in 8th to Make It 5-1

The Yanks put 2 runners on in the bottom of the 7th — a leadoff walk by Paul Goldschmidt and 2-out single by Amed Rosario — but Trent Grisham fouled out to end the threat.

Camilo Doval came in for the top of the 8th — and allowed a leadoff double to Alejandro Kirk, then a 1-out single by Myles Straw to make it a 5-1 game.

Doval then hit Ernie Clement with a pitch and was yanked.

David Bednar came in and got a ground out and strike out to end the inning. Toronto 5 NY 1.

7. Wells Hits Fly with Bases Loaded in 8th

The Yanks and Yankee Stadium fans did not give up. With fans relentlessly clapping despite the 5-1 deficit — NY launched a rally with 2 outs in the bottom of the 8th — a single by Giancarlo Stanton to center, a walk by Jazz Chisholm Jr., and a walk by Ben Rice against ace reliever Jeff Hoffman.

The tying run was at the plate in the form of Austin Wells — but he hit the first pitch for a can-of-corn fly to left.

8. The Martian & Judge Combine for Run in 9th

David Bednar pitched around a leadoff double in the top of the 9th by getting a ground out and 2 strikeouts — which left NY one last chance in the bottom of the 9th, down 5-1.

Jasson Dominguez got his first at bat in the postseason to lead off the inning, and doubled to center off Hoffman.

Judge Just Missed HR

But Amed Rosario flied out to left and Trent Grisham grounded out to 1st.

With 2 outs — Aaron Judge ripped a shot off the wall in left — just missing a HR. It scored The Martian for a 5-2 game.

The Yanks had one last hope — the hope that Cody Bellinger could get on to bring up Giancarlo Stanton as the tying run.

But Hoffman struck out Bellinger for the old ballgame — and season.

Etcetera

  • Aaron Judge went 2 for 4 with a walk and RBI — just missing the HR in the 9th. He had a Great playoffs, batting .500 in 26 at bats over 7 games against Boston and Toronto. His slash line: 1-7-.500 (.581 OBP, 1.273 OPS). This continued his dominance of the regular season when he hit 53 HRs and won the batting title with a .331 average.
  • Anthony Volpe made a great catch in the 2nd inning and turned a slick double play later on, but struck out all 3 times up. He struck out 16 times in the playoffs (in 26 at bats) — more than anyone else — and finished with a .192 batting average (and .192 OBP — he didn’t walk once).
  • Trent Grisham went 0-5, striking out twice. After a tremendous regular season (34-74-.235, .348 OBP) he had a very quiet playoffs — working a few big walks but batting .138 with a .219 OBP with 0 HRs and 0 RBIs.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401809266

 

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