TORONTO — With their ace on the mound and a chance to leave Canada with a much-needed series win over the Blue Jays on Wednesday, the Yankees embarrassed themselves. Again.
After another night of atrocious baseball, the Bombers fell, 8-4. The loss, which followed an ugly defeat on Monday, put Aaron Boone’s 56-46 ballclub four games behind the Blue Jays, who haven’t relinquished their lead on the American League East since sweeping the Yankees over four games at Rogers Centre earlier this month.
Max Fried unraveled in the fifth on Wednesday, walking two batters and throwing a wild pitch before making a costly throwing error on a tapper toward third from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Fried, who typically fields his position well, tried throwing off-balance and around Davis Schneider, who was racing home. The throw skipped away from J.C. Escarra and trickled to the backstop. That allowed not only Schneider to score, but also George Springer, as neither Fried nor Oswald Peraza covered home.
Ball gets away from Escarra and two runs score, 4-2 Jays pic.twitter.com/tU3w4hAzCu
— Talkin’ Yanks (@TalkinYanks) July 24, 2025
Jazz Chisholm Jr. also made a throwing error later in the inning. That didn’t lead to any more runs, but the slop-fest was far from over.
Cody Bellinger, a terrific defender, couldn’t find an Ernie Clement flyball in the lights in the sixth inning, resulting in a one-out triple. Myles Straw followed with an RBI double.
Fried, making his first start since a blister ripped on his index finger before the All-Star break, then exited with blood on his pinky.
The lefty totaled six runs (4 earned) over 5.1 innings, as Ben Rice was charged with an error at first before the sixth frame ended. That scored another run for the Blue Jays.
The seventh inning, meanwhile, saw Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake get ejected. Aaron Boone joined him moments later after arguing with home plate umpire Manny Gonzalez.
Neither were on the bench when Jasson Domínguez added to the collection of calamities in the bottom of the seventh, as the left fielder bobbled a bouncing ball, giving Guerrero extra bases and the Yankees four errors on the night.
Bo Bichette proceeded with a two-run homer off Scott Effross, the final nail in the Yankees’ self-made coffin.
Domínguez actually started the scoring on Wednesday, smoking a solo shot off Chris Bassitt in the second inning. A Guerrero double and a Clement single gave Toronto its first lead in the fourth, but Anthony Volpe tied the game with a homer of his own in the fifth.
Aaron Judge re-tied the game in the sixth after Fried’s poor throw, hitting a two-run jack for his 37th homer of the season. Alas, the Yankees’ power surge came with a defensive meltdown.
Poor defense and fundamentals have been a problem for the Yankees for some time now — just ask the Dodgers’ World Series-winning team from a year ago — but the club has been especially careless against the Blue Jays, who are speedy and skilled at putting the ball in play.
The Yankees have now made 12 errors in 10 games against Toronto this season. The blunders are a huge reason why Boone and company are 3-7 against the Blue Jays.
The Yankees are also now 11-18 against AL East rivals this year. Boone and his players, well-aware of that record, said his team’s trend of poor divisional play needed to change prior to the series.
Instead, the Yankees ended the three-game set at rock bottom.
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