If they’re going to pull off the improbable and make the playoffs, the Toronto Blue Jays’ margin for error is slim to none.

Toronto’s 3-1 win over the New York Yankees on Friday night followed a familiar formula: pitching and defence kept the game close until the offence was able to squeeze out the decisive runs late. The Blue Jays moved to 60-64 with the win and are one game back of the final American League wild-card spot, pending the results of the Texas Rangers’ game.

Entering Game 1 of the Blue Jays’ three-game series against the Yankees, Toronto’s last seven wins had all come by two runs or fewer. Nine of their last 10 games were decided by the same margin. When a team has the second-worst offence in MLB, and a pitching staff capable of shutting down opponents, that’s how winning looks. And the Blue Jays needed Shane Bieber’s strong performance in front of the home crowd at Rogers Centre.

Bieber’s mid-season return from injury has been rocky — he had allowed one earned run, four earned runs, one earned run, and five earned runs in his last four starts before Friday. The underlying numbers are even worse as he’s been hit hard, walked plenty of batters, and hardly struck them out. All that had amounted to a 7.24 expected ERA that was even worse than his actual 5.48 number.

Still, there were gems mixed in there against the above-average offences of the Tampa Bay Rays and Chicago White Sox. There were still glimpses of what once made Bieber brilliant — exceptional command and control. He had it on Friday, dotting fastballs on each corner against Trent Grisham, painting the outside edge on Ben Rice, and freezing Spencer Jones with a backdoor curveball.

Bieber didn’t allow a run until Grisham broke the scoreless deadlock in the sixth by pulling a centre-cut fastball for a solo home run. The Blue Jays right-hander pitched six innings and allowed just the one run, striking out five and walking one.

Then the Yankees threw their lead away. They nearly had an inning-ending double play when George Springer hit a ground ball to third, but Luis Garcia Jr. dropped the ball at first, then made a wild throw to third trying to nab Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who came around to score on the error. Alejandro Kirk followed with an RBI double to give Toronto a one-run lead.

Kirk added an insurance run with a solo home run off Bradley Hanner in the eighth inning, his fifth of the season, and Louis Varland secured his 27th save in the ninth.

With the margin for error so slim, every advantage gained was meaningful, highlighting the work of the Blue Jays outfield.

In the third inning, recent Yankees call-up George Lombard Jr. tried to go first to third on a hard-hit single and was promptly hung up between second and third on a heads-up throw by Nathan Lukes.

Jones led off the next frame by stretching a line drive that got down in front of centre fielder Brett Bateman into a double. Jones tagged and headed for third on an ensuing fly ball, and Bateman redeemed himself with a strong throw that appeared to catch the towering outfielder at third, but upon review, Jones was just out of the reach of Kazuma Okamoto’s tag. Runners could continue to challenge Bateman’s arm going forward.

Meanwhile, Yankees manager Aaron Boone was ejected in the seventh inning after appearing to get into an argument about the strike zone with home plate umpire Vic Carapazza.

And Guerrero was replaced at first base in the top of the seventh inning by Charles McAdoo, after he collided with Lombard at third base before scoring the Blue Jays’ first run.