Gerrit Cole can’t hold slim lead as Yankees fall to Blue Jays

For the first time in a week, the Yankees were reminded of what playing with a lead felt like on Saturday afternoon. 

But that lasted just two full innings before they sunk back to reality. 

Gerrit Cole was unable to protect that one-run lead and the Blue Jays came away with a 5-2 win at Yankees Stadium. 

In addition to losing for the 15th time in their last 19 games, and falling to 12-25 over their last 27, the Yankees (73-48) clinched their sixth straight series loss. The loss further shrunk their lead atop the AL East — which manager Aaron Boone insisted on Friday night he didn’t “give a crap about” — to seven games over the Blue Jays (65-54), the smallest it has been since June 9. 

The Yankees’ offensive malaise extended to 11 games, during which they have scored just 21 runs — eight of them on Wednesday in an 8-7, 10-inning win over the Rays. Through Aug. 8, the Yankees had been averaging an MLB-best 5.3 runs per game. 

Boone tried rearranging his lineup Saturday in an attempt to find a spark. He dropped Aaron Judge to the No. 3 hole for just the fourth time this season and bumped Andrew Benintendi up to the second spot. Judge collected a pair of infield singles — equalling the total hits he had recorded over his previous seven games — but Benintendi went 1-for-4 with a walk and left four men on base. 

Gleyber Torres smacked a solo home run to the short porch in the eighth inning to pull the Yankees within 4-2. But Albert Abreu gave that run back in the top of the ninth when Matt Chapman took him deep. 

Cole did not give up a hit until the fifth inning, when Santiago Espinal smacked a one-out double off the left-field wall. That quickly turned the tide for the Blue Jays. Danny Jansen followed with a walk and Jackie Bradley Jr. hit a two-run double for a 2-1 lead. 

The Blue Jays then collected back-to-back infield singles to load the bases for Alejandro Kirk, who roped a double to the gap to drive in two more runs. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was thrown out at home trying to score from first on the play, but the Blue Jays still pushed their lead to 4-1. 

The crowd of 45,538 unloaded a chorus of boos as Cole walked off the mound after the fifth. 

A smattering of boos even found Judge when he struck out looking to lead off the bottom of the fifth after he had singled in each of his first two at-bats. 

After the Yankees stranded a pair of runners in the first inning, they broke through for a run in the second inning. Jose Trevino got things going with a one-out double to the gap before Isiah Kiner-Falefa reached on an error by shortstop Bo Bichette. 

Estevan Florial, who was a late addition to the lineup after Josh Donaldson was scratched with a stomach bug, came up next and punched a single through the open left side to score Trevino for a 1-0 lead. It marked the first time the Yankees were playing with a lead since Aug. 13 (their only lead in the win Wednesday was on Donaldson’s grand slam that ended the game).