NEW YORK — It was messy. It was uncomfortable. But the Yankees got the job done.
New York beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night. The Yankees improved to 30-19 on the season. They have now won 11 of their last 12 home games.
Two players carried the night. One was ending a long drought. The other was chasing the captain.
McMahon breaks the Cease-fire
Ryan McMahon had gone 0-for-24 since May 9. That is a brutal stretch for any Yankees hitter, especially on a club chasing a postseason berth.
Toronto led 3-0 in the fourth. Dylan Cease was in command. Then the Yankees changed the game in a single inning.
Aaron Judge drew a walk. He was then called out on strikes on a 3-2 slider. Judge tapped his helmet and triggered an automated ball-strike challenge. The call reversed to ball four. Jazz Chisholm Jr. walked next.
McMahon dug in with one out. Cease threw a 99 mph fastball. McMahon turned on it and went opposite field. The ball cleared the left field wall. Three-run homer. Yankees tied the game at 3-3.
Rice, who would deliver the go-ahead shot moments later, described what McMahon’s blast did to the Yankees’ dugout.
“It injected some life into us,” Rice said. “It’s super impressive to be able to go backside like that here as a left-handed hitter, let alone off a great pitcher like [Cease].”
McMahon is now 6-for-14 lifetime with two homers against Cease. The slump is over.
Rice seizes the lead
Ben Rice made sure McMahon’s comeback would not go to waste.
Trent Grisham drew a walk to open the fifth. Rice worked the count to 2-0. Cease threw a 98 mph fastball up and in. Rice drove it over the right-center field wall. Two-run homer. Yankees 5, Blue Jays 3.
It was his 16th homer. That tied Aaron Judge for the Yankees team lead. Judge’s last homer came May 10 in Milwaukee. Rice had hit four since then.
Rice kept the focus on the Yankees win rather than the personal milestone.
“That’s what makes baseball fun,” Rice said. “Of course we’d rather it be a nice 1-2-3 [inning], but the reality is it’s not always going to be that way. When they’re threatening with runners in scoring position and trying to tie the game up, it’s our job to lock it in and stop them. That’s what makes it fun.”
Warren does the job
Yankees starter Will Warren ran into trouble in the fourth. Toronto strung together four singles and a walk. Yohendrick Pinango, Jesus Sanchez, and Andres Gimenez each knocked in a run. Blue Jays led 3-0.
Warren settled down and finished five innings. He allowed three runs on six hits, struck out three, and threw 86 pitches. His record moved to 6-1, with an ERA of 3.61.
Cease also lasted five but needed 100 pitches. He struck out nine. He also walked four and gave up two homers. It was the most runs Cease had allowed in a single game since July 2025.
Yankees bullpen steps up
Yankees closer David Bednar was unavailable. He had thrown 59 pitches across two straight tense outings, including Monday’s save. Fernando Cruz also sat out after back-to-back high-leverage appearances.
Aaron Boone had to piece together four innings with a lead. Tim Hill, Jake Bird, and Brent Headrick combined for three shutout frames. They allowed just one hit. It was a quietly strong stretch from a Yankees bullpen that had drawn plenty of scrutiny.
Rice contributed with his glove in the seventh. Heineman hit a grounder down the first base line. Rice dove to his left, stretched fully, and snagged it. He flipped to Bird for the out. Boone made the stakes clear.
“Off the bat, I’m just like, ‘Oh, he’s rolling that down the line,’ and there’s Benny,” Boone said. “It’s going to be tougher to piece that thing together [if Rice doesn’t make the play].”
Boone was ejected after the seventh for arguing two calls with second base umpire Brennan Miller. It was the 48th ejection of his career as a Yankees manager and his second of 2026.
Doval survives the ninth
With Bednar resting, Camilo Doval handled the ninth. It was his first save chance of the season with the Yankees.
He walked a batter and gave up a single. Runners on the corners with nobody out.
George Springer hit a comebacker. Doval deflected it but secured the out at first. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. lifted a sacrifice fly. Blue Jays cut it to 5-4.
Daulton Varsho chopped one to the right side. Rice dove but could not corral it. Chisholm fielded the ball. Doval was slow to first. Varsho reached safely. Runners on the corners, two out.
Kazuma Okamoto grounded to Volpe. Ball game. Doval pounded his chest.
Doval spoke through an interpreter about what the save meant.
“That’s what I want to do, just show the team that I can do this,” Doval said. “That when they give me a tough situation like that, they can give me the ball and trust in me.”
What’s next
The series continues Wednesday at Yankee Stadium. Blue Jays righty Trey Yesavage (1-1, 1.40 ERA) faces Yankees righty Cam Schlittler (6-1, 1.35 ERA) in a matchup of two of baseball’s more impressive young starters.
The Yankees’ home-field surge now stands at 11 wins in 12 games, a first since June 2-24, 2022.
How do you see the win? Who do you think the real hero, McMahon or Rice, in this win?
