TORONTO — For almost three years, Rogers Centre had been a place where Yankees dreams went to die. On Sunday afternoon, Ben Rice finally flipped the script.
Rice crushed a tiebreaking home run in the ninth inning, sparking a five-run outburst that carried the Yankees to an 8-3 win over the Blue Jays. The victory clinched the series, something the Yankees had not done in Toronto in a very long time.
It was a fitting end to a road trip that had quietly turned into one of the team’s best stretches of the season.
A swing that broke the drought
The game was tied 3-3 entering the ninth, setting the stage for another late hero. This time it was Rice, who admitted he had not felt right at the plate all day.
Facing Blue Jays reliever Braydon Fisher, Rice turned on a slider and drove it 381 feet over the right-field wall for a two-run shot. It was his team-leading 19th home run of the season.
Rice was honest about how the rest of his afternoon had gone, making the timing of the blast all the sweeter.
“I think he’s being friendly there,” Rice said with a smile after Boone joked about his earlier swings. “There were definitely some swings that weren’t very convicted on my end, so to finish the day on a good one, that feels nice.”
Boone had greeted him in the dugout with some playful needling about the at-bats that came before.
“Man, you took some bad swings today,” Boone recalled telling Rice. “Right on time for that last one, baby.”
History repeats in the ninth
The homer carried a strong sense of deja vu for the Yankees. It was the second straight game in which they won on a tiebreaking ninth-inning blast.
A day earlier, Paul Goldschmidt had delivered the same kind of dagger. The back-to-back heroics marked the first time the Yankees hit go-ahead home runs in the ninth inning or later in consecutive road games since Jason Giambi and Aaron Boone did it at Baltimore in August 2003.
Rice credited the team’s collective approach for the repeated late magic.
“It just speaks to the mentality of the group,” Rice said. “I feel like everyone’s got that next-man-up mentality. Regardless of who’s on the mound, regardless of the situation, we’re going to go up there and put together a quality at-bat.”
Caballero blows it open
Once Rice cracked the door, the Yankees kicked it down. The rally turned into a rout in a hurry.
Jose Caballero followed with a three-run homer off Tommy Nance, a towering 420-foot drive to left that emptied a taxed Toronto bullpen. Boone marveled at the rare power display from the utility man.
“That’s one of those he hits in BP all the time,” Boone said of Caballero’s blast.
Ali Sanchez chipped in his first hit and RBI as a Yankee with a run-scoring double off Patrick Corbin, capping the five-run ninth.
Warren grinds through another start
Before the late fireworks, the Yankees needed their starter to keep them afloat. Will Warren did just enough.
For the second straight outing, Warren had to battle. He scattered eight hits over four innings but limited the damage to two runs, throwing 98 pitches in a gritty effort.
Kazuma Okamoto reached on a run-scoring single in the third, aided by an Amed Rosario throwing error, and Nathan Lukes tied it with an RBI single in the fourth. Warren was glad to escape with the game still within reach.
“The Blue Jays are going to Blue Jay,” Warren said. “They get their singles and make it tough on us, but I’m happy to get out of there with only two runs and give us a chance to win.”
Anthony Volpe quietly did his part to keep the Yankees in it. The shortstop, who has drawn heavy scrutiny for an up-and-down season, knocked in a run with a single in the second inning and added another RBI single in the sixth. The two-hit, two-RBI afternoon was a welcome sign for a player the Yankees badly need to find consistency at the plate, and it helped New York stay even before the late surge.
A long-awaited celebration
The win meant more than just one game in the standings for the Yankees. It ended a stretch of misery in Toronto that had lingered for nearly 990 days.
The Yankees had not won a series at Rogers Centre since September 2023, and last season they dropped eight of nine games there, including two in the American League Division Series. Warren made clear the rivalry still stings.
“Chip on our shoulder, we don’t like those guys over there, and they don’t like us,” Warren said. “So finding any way to win is always a good one, especially on the road.”
The Yankees took two of three to push Toronto 10 games back in the American League East. Boone soaked in a rare happy ending in a tough building.
“It feels good to shake hands and be celebrating a win in here,” Boone said. “What a good finish to an outstanding road trip.”
A surging team heads home
The result captured how well the Yankees are playing despite their injuries. They finished the trip 5-1 and improved to 43-27 on the season.
Even without Aaron Judge, who last played May 31, the Yankees have gone 7-4 since and kept pace atop the division. They have also feasted on left-handed pitching, winning 14 of their last 16 such games.
Now the Yankees head home to open a homestand against the Chicago White Sox, riding a wave of momentum and finally free of their Toronto demons. Ace Gerrit Cole is set to open the series on the mounds.
For a club that has spent weeks answering doubts, burying the Blue Jays in their own park was the loudest answer yet.
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