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Instant Reaction: Blue Jays defeat Yankees 8-5 to take sole possession of first in the division
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Photo credit: © John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images
Ryley Delaney
Jul 3, 2025, 22:45 EDTUpdated: Jul 3, 2025, 23:29 EDT
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The Toronto Blue Jays run the American League East.
On Thursday evening, the Blue Jays defeated the New York Yankees, taking sole possession of the American League East. Moreover, it was the first time in franchise history that the Jays swept the Yankees in a four-game series at home. Let’s take a look at what happened!
The Blue Jays opened the scoring for the second straight game, as Addison Barger hit an RBI double for the 1-0 lead. In the top of the third, Trent Grisham hit a solo home run, tying it up at one apiece.
George Springer hit one of the biggest home runs of the season on Canada Day, and he followed that up with a two-run home run in the bottom of the third to give the Blue Jays a 3-1 lead. The Yankees once again had an answer, as Anthony Volpe hit an RBI single and Chris Bassitt threw a wild pitch for the tying run to come in.
Once again, the Blue Jays took the lead immediately after the Yankees tied it, as Nathan Lukes hit an RBI-double with runners on second and third. More on this at-bat in the takeaways. In the bottom of the fifth, Barger hit his third extra-base hit as he mashed a solo home run for his 11th of the season.
Braydon Fisher ran into some trouble in the top of the seventh, giving up an RBI double to Jazz Chisholm. Chad Green replaced him and allowed an inherited runner to score, making it a 6-5 Blue Jays lead. But once again, Springer hit a key home run, a two-run blast in the bottom of the eighth for an 8-5 lead.

Takeaways…

Remember coming into the season when it seemed like the Blue Jays should release George Springer? Thankfully, they didn’t as he hit his 14th and 15th home runs of the season on Thursday. In the series, Springer hit four home runs. It can’t be overstated how important his resurgence has been to this team.
The key at bat in this game belongs to Nathan Lukes. In a 3-3 game with runners on second and third with one out, Lukes started on a 0-2 count, then proceeded to draw a full count with eight foul balls in the mix. On the 14th pitch of the at bat, Lukes hit a two-run double. This was one of the biggest at-bats of the season.
It’s been the case for a while, but Addison Barger is an everyday player at this point. Whether he’s a third baseman or right fielder depends on the game, but the Jays needed one of their young players to break out, and they got just that with Barger. On Thursday, he was 3-4 with two doubles and his 11th home run of the season.
For the first time in his career, Braydon Fisher gave up an earned run pitching out of the bullpen. He got out of the top of the sixth, but allowed three consecutive hits to start the top of the seventh. He stopped the bleeding with a strikeout of Jasson Dominguez, but Green allowed a run to come in.
Speaking of Green, it was a big performance from the Blue Jays’ reliever. He got a ground out that scored a run, walked a batter, and then got Stanton to ground out to end the inning with a Yankee stranded on third. In the top of the eighth, he struck out Trent Grishman and got Ben Rice to fly out. That’s what the Jays need from Green.
Chris Bassitt didn’t have his good stuff in this game, but he had a gutsy performance, giving up three earned runs, three walks, and eight hits while striking out nine. He nearly got a quality start, but walked Grisham. Bassitt was the winning pitcher.
Nine of the Blue Jays hits came from three players, Barger, Springer, and Lukes. Alejandro Kirk and Davis Schneider had the other two hits, while Will Wagner walked twice. Jeff Hoffman picked up his 21st win of the season, and Justin Bruihl struck out Cody Bellinger by hitting him with a pitch.
This is the latest the Blue Jays have held first in the American League East since September 2016. Moreover, this was the first time in franchise history that they were able to sweep the Yankees in a four-game series in Toronto, although they’ve swept a four-game series in New York twice.
The labouring bullpen won’t get any rest, as the Blue Jays welcome the Los Angeles Angels for a three-game series on Friday. Eric Lauer is the Jays’ expected starter, with the game starting at 7:07 PM ET on Apple TV+.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

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