Instant Reaction: Ben Rice’s home run powers Yankees to extra innings victory over Blue Jays
Photo credit: Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images
Aug 16, 2026, 16:51 EDT
For the second straight series, the Toronto Blue Jays came up just short with the chance to sweep.
Just like in the previous series against the Boston Red Sox, the Blue Jays fell in the series finale after taking the first two games, this time against the New York Yankees by a score of 4-3 in extra innings.
In similar fashion to when Payton Tolle dominated the Blue Jays on Thursday, Toronto’s offence had no answers for Yankees left-hander Ryan Weathers. Weathers turned in a line of 7.1 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, and kept the Blue Jays in check long enough for the Yankees to eventually prevail.
Ben Rice, who was held hitless over the first two games of the series, slammed his team-leading 33rd home run of the season in the top of the 10th off Braydon Fisher to give the Yankees a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
For the third straight game, the Yankees opened the scoring, this time by way of a Luis García Jr. sacrifice fly in the top of the third. José Caballero opened the inning with a walk off Dylan Cease before moving to second on Ben Rice’s groundout to Alejandro Kirk. With García at the plate, Caballero stole his 30th base of the season to give García the opportunity to bring him home.
With Weathers dealing, it took until the bottom of the fifth for the Blue Jays to get on the board. Kazuma Okamoto clubbed a one-out double before recently called-up Daz Cameron ripped his first hit in a Toronto uniform by doubling to left field and bringing home Okamoto to tie the game 1-1.
After George Lombard Jr. doubled to left field on Cease’s 104th pitch of the afternoon with one out in the top of the seventh, manager John Schneider opted to turn to Brendon Little. After an intentional walk to Paul Goldschmidt and a lineout by Amed Rosario, Caballero came through with a single to left to bring home Lombard and give the Yankees a 2-1 lead.
Cease was once again strong, turning in a pitching line of 6.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 10 K. The performance was Cease’s ninth time reaching 10-plus strikeouts, and the right-hander now is 7-5 with a 2.42 ERA and 1.06 WHIP across 23 starts. With 201 strikeouts on the season, Cease trails only Jacob Misiorowski, who has 210, for the MLB lead in punchouts.
In the bottom of the ninth, with their backs against the wall, the Blue Jays rallied to tie. After getting the first two runners on, a wild pitch set up runners on second and third with one out for Ernie Clement. Clement lifted a sacrifice fly to centre field off David Bednar to tie the game and force extras.
Andrés Giménez singled home Okamoto in the bottom of the 10th to make it a 4-3 game, but Tim Hill retired Brett Bateman on a 1-3 groundout to secure the win for the Yankees.
Recent addition to the bullpen Paul Sewald made his Blue Jays debut on Sunday and pitched well. The 36-year-old turned in a pitching line of 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K and could become a part of the high-leverage group in the Blue Jays’ bullpen as August wears on.
The Blue Jays will be off Monday before heading out on a six-game road trip that sees them square off with the Tampa Bay Rays, then the Yankees again.
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