Fresh off a three-game sweep of the San Francisco Giants, the schedule doesn’t lighten up for the Blue Jays, who start another three-game tilt with the New York Yankees tonight. This will be the second time this month that the Blue Jays and Yankees square off north of the border, with the first series resulting in a resounding Blue Jays sweep that propelled them to the top of the American League East and has kept them there ever since.

New York trails Toronto by three games for the AL East’s top spot, and they also hold only a two-game lead for the top Wild Card spot over Boston and Seattle. With all of that being said, the Yankees owe the Blue Jays a few times over this week.

34-year-old Kevin Gausman is slated to make his first start of the second half of the 2025 season tonight. Gausman’s first half featured a few highs, a few lows, and everything in between, but all told, he’s posted a 4.19 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, and 8.5 K/9 across 19 starts. He’s still predominantly operating with his fastball-splitter pitch mix plus an occasional slider mixed in, with his splitter generating a whiff rate of 37.7% on the splitter, a slight increase from last season.

This will be the second time this season that he’s faced the Yankees, with the first start including his notorious 53-pitch third inning in a losing effort on April 27th. More recently, Gausman battled to cover five innings of two-run ball with three strikeouts and four walks on Canada Day. He departed the game in line for a win, but New York would tie the game in the 7th inning before Toronto’s massive five-run 8th inning, highlighted by George Springer’s grand slam.

Given the importance of this series, the Yankees lined up their rotation out of the break to go with lefty Carlos Rodón tonight, who also pitched the series opener earlier this month. Rodón kept the Blue Jays quiet through the first four innings of that matchup, but the Blue Jays finally tagged him for a pair of earned runs between the 5th and 6th innings that would hand him the no-decision.

Rodón was recently named to his third career All-Star team after pitching to a 3.08 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 10.2 K/9, and an AL-best 5.9 H/9 through 20 first-half starts. He’s pitching into at least the 6th inning in 13 of those starts, and he’s recorded eight or more strikeouts nine times.

As he’s done since late-June, Ernie Clement is getting the nod at the leadoff spot in tonight’s lineup, and he’s coming into tonight with three career hits against Rodón in 10 at-bats. Following Clement are Springer and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and while that shouldn’t come to anyone’s surprise, both of those hitters have also had previous success against Rodón. Last season, Springer hit multiple three-run homers against Rodón in the same game, and Guerrero Jr. is 9-for-15 with three doubles and a home run against him for his career.

A lefty on the mound for the Yankees also prompts a start for righties Davis Schneider, Myles Straw, and Leo Jiménez, but left-hander Joey Loperfido will hit ninth in right field after logging eight hits in his first eight games.

The Blue Jays made a roster move ahead of tonight’s matchup, recalling southpaw reliever Mason Fluharty from triple-A Buffalo and optioning reliever Robinson Piña as the corresponding move. Serving as Toronto’s third left-handed option out of the bullpen, Fluharty posted a 1.76 ERA over his first 15 1/3 innings this season before allowing 18 earned runs over his next 18 2/3 frames.

Location: Rogers Centre – Toronto, Ontario

First Pitch: 7:07 PM EST

Watch/Listen: Sportsnet / Sportsnet 590 The Fan

Toronto Blue Jays – Kevin Gausman: 6-7 record, 4.19 ERA, 109 2/3, 104 SO, 34 BB

New York Yankees – Carlos Rodón: 10-6 record, 3.08 ERA, 119 2/3 IP, 135 SO, 41 BB