More miscues haunt Yankees as George Springer, Blue Jays slam their way to victory

Gary Phillips, New York Daily News on Jul 1, 2025

Published in Baseball

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Fresh off a sloppy loss and a sub-.500 month, the Yankees continued to play below their standards on Tuesday, falling, 12-5, as the Blue Jays celebrated Canada Day at Rogers Centre.

With the defeat, the Yankees are 10-14 against American League East rivals this season. Both the Blue Jays and Rays are now one game back in the division.

George Springer made sure that a loss would be added to the Bombers’ record, as he broke Tuesday’s game open in the seventh when he crushed a grand slam off of Luke Weaver with Toronto already up a run. The Yankees began the inning with Mark Leiter Jr. on the mound, but he gave up a one-out single to Andrés Giménez and walked Tyler Heineman before Weaver took over.

Weaver appeared to pick up a strikeout upon entering, but J.C. Escarra was instead called for catcher interference for the second straight day. Ernie Clement capitalized with an RBI single off the glove of a diving Anthony Volpe before Springer gave the Blue Jays a cushion that the Yankees couldn’t overcome.

Springer then gave himself seven RBIs on the day, adding a two-run single in the eighth after Clement worked a bases-loaded walk.

It was the slam that deflated the Yankees, though, as it came after the Blue Jays shot themselves in the foot twice in the top of the seventh.

With Toronto up 4-2, Cody Bellinger led off with a single before Aaron Judge was granted an intentional walk. Jazz Chisholm Jr. then reached on a fielder’s choice before a bouncing Giancarlo Stanton grounder skipped under Clement’s glove, an error for the third baseman. With runners on the corners and one away, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. made an error of his own, failing to corral a Jasson Domínguez grounder.

That tied the game, but the Yankees couldn’t take the lead after Volpe flew out to center and Escarra struck out.

While Domínguez started the scoring with a two-run single off Kevin Gausman in the first and added a meaningless run in the ninth, the Yankees had a difficult time putting runs on the board outside of the Blue Jays’ gaffes. They went 2 for 17 with runners in scoring position and stranded 11 runners.

The untimely hitting, combined with some poor defense, continued some of the trends that contributed to the Yankees’ latest June swoon.

Meanwhile, Max Fried was not his usual stopper self.

The lefty cruised through the first three innings, but the Blue Jays picked up their first hit in the fourth when Springer hit a solo shot. The outfielder homered off Fried’s signature curveball, which had been hit over the fence just one other time this season.

Fried rebounded by getting Guerrero and Alejandro Kirk out, but Chisholm made a bad throw on a Davis Schneider dribbler, which was generously ruled a hit. Fried then walked Myles Straw on five pitches before Giménez drove a three-run homer to center.

Fried ended up throwing six innings. He totaled three hits, four earned runs, two walks and two strikeouts over 99 pitches. Tuesday marked just the second time this season he’s permitted more than three earned runs in a game. It was also the second time he’s surrendered two homers in a game.

The southpaw now has a 2.13 ERA this year.

With the Yankees now two sloppy losses into a four-game series, they still have a chance to leave Canada with a split. They’ll ask Will Warren to assist that effort on Wednesday, but they’ll also need to play cleaner baseball while getting to José Berríos.