TORONTO — Aaron Judge walked up to the plate with the bases loaded and nobody out in the sixth inning as the Yankees trailed 2-0 on Saturday.
The situation couldn’t have been better for a momentum-shifting inning in Game 1 of the AL Division Series against the Blue Jays.
Instead, the Yankees scored one run in their biggest chance to dig their way out of an early hole and potentially go steal the opener at Rogers Centre, finding a new way to lose in their house of horrors.
The Blue Jays survived a big scare, then poured it on late in a 10-1 whipping, taking a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series that continues Sunday afternoon.
The Yankees thought this visit to Canada would be different after looking like the Bad News Bears in making 11 errors while losing six of seven during their two summer visits.
So far, nothing’s changed.
With Yankees starter Luis Gil pitching on extra rest after being left off the Wild Card Series roster, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. homered with two out in the Blue Jays’ first and Alejandro Kirk went deep to lead off the second for a quick 2-0 lead.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman needed only 50 pitches to blank the Yankees on two hits through five innings, then lost his command in the sixth.
The game was there for the taking.
Anthony Volpe led off with a double off the left-field wall, Austin Wells roped a single to right, then Trent Grisham walked on six pitches to fill ‘em up for Judge, who battled for eight pitches.
Judge worked the count to 2-1, then swung and missed at a bottom of the zone splitter. He fouled off the next pitch, took ball three, spoiled a 3-2 offering and then struck out swinging, chasing a splitter that was low and way outside.
The Yankees were back in business when Bellinger walked on four pitches to force in a run that made it 2-1, but Ben Rice popped to third base for the second out. Gausman gave up one earned run on four hits and two walks in 5 2/3 innings. He struck out three.
Louis Varland came out of the Jays’ pen to strike out Giancarlo Stanton to end the inning.
From there, the Jays teed off on Yankees relievers Luke Weaver and Fernando Cruz, scoring four runs in the seventh inning and four more in the eighth inning off of Paul Blackburn, including a second home run by Kirk.
This was another ugly loss in Toronto for the Yankees, but they now have their best starters lined up for the remainder of the series, starting with Max Fried in Game 2. Toronto will turn to rookie Trey Ysevage for his fourth career start.
NOTABLE
— Mirroring his nightmare outing in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series, Weaver faced three batters and retired none. He gave up two hits and walked the other. Two scored in a loss to the Red Sox that had them down a game in a best-of- three series, and all three scored this time.
— Gil was on a short leash and was removed from a 2-0 game after a two-out single. He ended up the losing pitcher in a 48-pitch start in which he allowed two runs on four hits over 2 2/3 innings.
— Judge was 2-for-4, leaving him with a .400 average in four playoff games, but he’s homerless with one RBI.
— Playing with a sore left heel, Bellinger manned left field and had no issues chasing down a liner to left-center in the third inning. He did, however, limp running on and off the field every inning and slow-jogged to first base on a fourth-inning grounder to first.
— Yankees leadoff hitter Trent Grisham complained that his first-pitch-of-the-game grounder to first base hit off his toe and should have been a foul ball. Replays showed Grisham was right: The ball nicked the left-handed hitter’s front right foot by maybe a quarter inch.
LOOKING AHEAD
Sunday: Tuesday: Game 2, Yankees at Blue Jays, 4:08 p.m., FS1. LHP Max Fried vs. RHP Trey Ysevage
Monday: Off day.
Tuesday: Game 3, Blue Jays at Yankees, 8:08 p.m., FS1. LHP Carlos Rodon vs. RHP Shane Bieber.
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