NEW YORK — Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and George Springer each drove in a run, and eight Toronto pitchers shut down the New York Yankees in a 5-2 victory Wednesday night that sent the Blue Jays to the American League Championship Series for the first time in nine years.
“Kind of fitting that it took everyone to win today,” said manager John Schneider, soaked in bubbly from the clubhouse celebration inside Yankee Stadium.
Nathan Lukes provided a two-run single and Addison Barger had three of Toronto’s 12 hits as the pesky Blue Jays, fouling off tough pitches and consistently putting the ball in play, bounced right back after blowing a five-run lead in Tuesday night’s loss at Yankee Stadium.
AL East champion Toronto took the division series 3-1, and it will host Game 1 in the best-of-seven ALCS on Sunday against the Detroit Tigers or the Seattle Mariners.
Those two teams are set to decide their playoff series Friday in Game 5 at Seattle.
“It feels great,” Guerrero said through an interpreter. “Everybody was just together since the first day. You could tell that something special was there.”
Toronto’s only pennants came in 1992 and ’93, when the club won consecutive World Series crowns.
“Maybe some people don’t believe in the team through the year, but I always remind everyone that we have an entire country behind us that believe in us, and hopefully we can get the World Series back to Canada,” Guerrero said.
Ryan McMahon homered for the wild-card Yankees, unable to stave off elimination for a fourth time this postseason as they failed to repeat as AL champions.
Despite a terrific playoff performance from Yankees star Aaron Judge following his previous October troubles, the 33-year-old slugger remains without a World Series ring. New York is still chasing its 28th title and first since 2009.
“We got beat here. Credit to the Blue Jays,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “They took it to us this series.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
