Blue Jays Drop Game 1 of Crucial Series Versus Yankees

TORONTO — Time is running out.

After 156 games full of early-season bullpen collapses and heartbreaking losses, then electrifying performances when it mattered most, it seems fitting to see the Blue Jays' 2021 season come down to the wire.

With under a half-dozen games remaining and the AL wild-card leading Yankees in town for a three-game set, Rogers Centre's season-high 28,769 fans roared during every big moment in a game of massive playoff implications.

George Springer got the place rocking in the first inning with a perfectly timed steal of second. It got even louder when Bo Bichette drove him in two batters later with an RBI single.

The crowd jumped to its feet in the fourth inning when Corey Dickerson golfed a curveball down the right field line for an RBI double to give Toronto a lead.

But for as quickly as the building got amped in Tuesday's 7-2 Blue Jays' loss, it went dead silent just as fast the moment Giancarlo Stanton took a big hack in the seventh inning.

Pain. 🙃pic.twitter.com/FY0Mw98dsj
— Sportsnet 590 The FAN (@FAN590) September 29, 2021

With two men on and two outs, Stanton cut at a changeup near his shoelaces and roasted it 421 feet to left field. He flipped his bat and rounded the bases as Rogers Centre's atmosphere deflated.

It was a good pitch by reliever Trevor Richards, but Stanton—who leads MLB with 15 homers since August 23—somehow got the barrel low and crushed it to increase the Yankees' lead to four runs.

“I don’t know how you can hit a ball like that," Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo said. "You’ve got to give Stanton credit for that. I just saw the replay, that ball was in the dirt and he went out and hit it out."

Stanton's big fly halted any thoughts of a Blue Jays' comeback, even though Toronto's offense showed very little life to begin with. Despite Yankees starter Jameson Taillon leaving the game in the third inning after re-aggravating his ankle injury, the Blue Jays managed just three hits the entire game.

“Their bullpen did a good job," Montoyo said. "Those arms coming out of there are good pitchers and they did a good job, so it wasn’t so much us.”

A lack of serious run support gave Blue Jays starter Hyun Jin Ryu very little wiggle room in his first start since returning from the injured list. The left-hander's command wasn't perfect —he allowed a solo shot to Aaron Judge in the third on a center-cut fastball—and the Yankees battled to plate two runs in a messy fourth inning.

All in all, Ryu allowed three earned runs on six hits through 4 2/3 innings. Not a terrible result, given his recent struggles, and Ryu said his stuff felt better than previous outings.

“Today I came in, I wasn’t really thinking about how many innings I’m going to throw or how many pitches I’m going to throw," Ryu said through interpreter J.S. Park. "I just wanted to focus every hitter by hitter.”

Thanks to a Red Sox loss, Toronto remains one game back of the second AL wild-card spot, but could wind up behind the Mariners by night's end.

The Blue Jays had a real chance to open their homestand on a high note, instead they walk away with an untimely loss. Things won't get any easier on Wednesday either, as the Yankees send Gerrit Cole to the hill for Game Two, but Montoyo said he's confident in his team's ability to reset.

"Just forget about tonight and be ready to play tomorrow," Montoyo said. "We've done it before, so why not do it again?"

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