Blue Jays lead Yankees 5-1 in the bottom of the 9th

The blueness Jays held onto their 5-1 top out in biz 4 against the Yankees in the top of the 9th inning.

Nathan Lukes hit a leadoff double to start, but was stranded.

A single by Myles Straw in the top of the eighth scored Alejandro Kirk, who hit a leadoff double. In the top of the seventh, a single by Nathan Lukes sent runners Andrés Giménez and Ernie Clement home.

The Jays pulled ahead to 2-1 when Clement hit a leadoff single at the top of the fifth inning, and made his way home on a sacrifice fly from George Springer.

Meanwhile, the Jays' bullpen has held the Yankees to one run — they scored when batter Ryan McMahon hit a solo homer in the bottom of the third.

The Blue Jays took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, with a leadoff double from Springer followed by an RBI single from Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

To start the game, the Jays turned to hard-throwing pitcher Louis Varland, and he had a relatively smooth first inning, giving up a hit to Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, but escaping further problems.

He returned to the mound in the second inning, but was replaced by Mason Fluharty after recording just one out, then hitting Yankees batter Paul Goldschmidt with a pitch and sending him to first base.

Fluharty got the next two batters, helping the Jays out of the second inning.

But it was Fluharty who surrendered the solo home run in the third and manager John Schneider went to the bullpen again, bringing in Seranthony Domínguez.

Domínguez stayed in the game through the fourth, but the Jays brought in Eric Lauer for the fifth, which was a quick three-up, three down inning.

Yariel Rodríguez, the fifth Jays pitcher of the game, was called in with two outs in the sixth, after Toronto intentionally walked Judge. Rodríguez then walked Giancarlo Stanton, but managed to get out of the inning unscathed.

Brendon Little entered the game to start the seventh. He gave up a walk and later a single, but got to the end of the inning without letting the Yankees score.

Braydon Fisher came into the game for the Jays during the eighth and managed to get two outs, but allowed two Yankees to reach and was pulled for closer Jeff Hoffman, who immediately walked Yankee hitter Ben Rice, loading the bases. He got out of that jam when Yankees catcher Austin Wells popped out to end the inning.

The Yankees picked rookie pitcher Cam Schlittler to start Game 4, and the 24-year-old looked relatively strong through the early innings of the game.

After giving up the initial run to the Blue Jays in the first inning, Schlittler managed to keep things scoreless in the next three innings.

Trouble began brewing for Schlittler in the fifth, but he managed to escape the inning with just the one run.

Schlittler remained in the game for the sixth, which saw him give up a leadoff single to the Jays' Addison Barger. But Toronto wasn't able to make anything happen.

Blue Jay Ernie Clement got aboard with a single in the seventh, later moving to third on a single from teammate Andrés Giménez.

That was enough for the Yankees to pull Schlittler, replacing him with reliever Devin Williams.

Toronto has a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five American League Division Series (ALDS), meaning the Blue Jays can advance to the next round of the playoffs with a win against New York tonight.

The Yankees, on the other hand, face a second day of do-or-die baseball. If they lose, their season is over.

If they win, there will be a Game 5 at Toronto's Roger Centre on Friday that would be a must-win for both teams.

Varland, a 27-year-old reliever who came to Toronto via a deadline deal with the Minnesota Twins, had already pitched in the first three games of the series, prior to Wednesday's Game 4.

But Toronto sent him out to start Game 4 — an unusual scenario resulting from Toronto having no other starters available to pitch on Wednesday night.

Several of Toronto's regular starters, José Berríos and Chris Bassitt, were left off the roster for this series, as was veteran starter Max Scherzer. Both Berríos and Bassitt were dealing with physical setbacks late in the season.

Manager Schneider was asked Wednesday about the challenges of deploying relievers so many times against the same team in a playoff series.

"It's a chess game," Schneider told reporters ahead of Game 4. "I think that's what makes these series interesting and fun, and you can't take anything for granted."

Schneider also said rookie phenom Trey Yesavage, who struck out 11 Yankees in Game 2 of this series, could be called upon in Game 4, if needed.

Game 3 was a bad day at the ballpark for Toronto.

Though the Jays held an early lead against New York thanks to a two-run homer from Vladimir Guerrero Jr., ultimately it was a combination of fielding errors and a tough lineup of Yankees hitters that left the team on the wrong side of a 9-6 final score.

Blue Jays starter Shane Bieber was pulled from the game in the third inning, as was his Yankees counterpart, Carlos Rodón.

The first two games of the series played in Toronto over the weekend, saw the Jays outscore the Yankees by a margin of 23-8, via a 10-1 rout in Game 1 on Saturday, and a 13-7 win in Game 2 on Sunday.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone, speaking before Wednesday's game, acknowledged the Jays' success against New York's starting pitchers in the first three games of the series.

"Hopefully, we can turn that around with a good one tonight and push this thing back to Toronto," he said, referring to a potential Game 5.

Both teams finished the regular season with the same number of wins, but Toronto took the division title because it won more of its regular season games against New York.

They’re American — and rooting for the Jays

The Yankees last won a World Series in 2009, but the franchise has won 27 championships over its long history — more than any other organization in Major League Baseball.

The Blue Jays last made it to the World Series when they won back-to-back championships in 1992 and 1993.

To get back to the World Series, the Blue Jays have to win the current series, then win a best-of-seven American League Championship Series (ALCS).

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