The triple play in the first inning kept the Blue Jays off the board. Aaron Judge’s acrobatic home run robbery in the sixth inning enabled the Yankees to rally.
They were both significant, momentum-turning plays in the Yankees’ 8-4 victory to complete a three-game sweep at Sahlen Field in Buffalo.
Toronto seemed primed to take an early lead. Marcus Semien led off with a walk and Bo Bichette reached on an infield single. They both advanced on a wild pitch. Then, on one pitch, Michael King got out of the inning.
On a 3-2 pitch, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a tapper to King’s right. He threw Guerrero out at first. The Blue Jays then ran themselves into two more outs. Bichette broke for third on contact with Semien only a few feet off the base.
First baseman DJ LeMahieu threw behind Bichette at second and Semien sprinted for the plate. Shortstop Gleyber Torres threw home and a rundown started. He was tagged out by third baseman Gio Urshela, who immediately threw to Torres covering third base to just get Bichette to complete the bizarre 1-3-6-2-5-6 triple play, a team record second triple killing of the season. The Yankees turned their first triple play on May 21 against the White Sox, on an around-the-horn ground out to third.
In the home sixth, after the Blue Jays had gone ahead, Cavan Biggio launched a first pitch Chad Green fastball. Off the bat, at 97.2 mph according to Statcast, it seemed gone. Judge, though, knew better.
He ran back to the wall, and leaped, extended his glove well above the fence and brought it back, saving two runs. Judge nearly doubled off Randal Grichuk at first, too, throwing a strike to LeMahieu at first base.