A disastrous visit to Canada shortly before the All-Star break left the New York Yankees spending their summer catching up in the American League East.
On their best run since May, the Yankees will attempt to inch closer to the division lead on Friday when they host the Toronto Blue Jays for the opener of a three-game series.
The Yankees held a seven-game lead through May 28, but they trailed by two games after the Blue Jays completed a four-game sweep on July 3. New York also dropped two of three in Toronto from July 21-23 and has trailed by 6 1/2 games on multiple occasions.
However, the Yankees (78-62) have registered 16 victories in their past 22 games while gradually chipping away at the deficit. They are three games back following a 5-2 road trip.
New York, which is 9-2 in its past 11 games, began a stretch of 12 straight contests vs. teams currently in playoff spots by taking two of three in Houston this week. The Yankees finished off the series with an 8-4 win on Thursday when Trent Grisham hit a three-run homer, Ryan McMahon homered among his three hits and David Bednar got two strikeouts with the bases loaded to finish it.
Now the Yankees head home to clash with the Blue Jays again.
“It should be a good series,” New York manager Aaron Boone said. “Obviously they’re a really good club. We’re excited to get after it with them.”
Toronto’s home dominance over the Yankees was part of a 19-4 stretch from June 29-July 26. Since then, the Blue Jays are 18-17, though they are is coming off a pair of big performances at the plate in the final two games of a road series against the Cincinnati Reds.
Toronto (81-59) collected 30 hits total while prevailing 12-9 on Tuesday and 13-9 on Wednesday. George Springer, Daulton Varsho, Alejandro Kirk, Addison Barger and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. homered in the series finale.
“The goal is always the same. You try to win every series,” Toronto manager John Schneider said. “We know what’s in front of us, right? And it’s always better to win going into an off day rather than sitting on a bad game and knowing you’re facing a really good team over the weekend. So that was a really well-rounded team win in a lot of different areas.”
New York rookie Cam Schlittler (2-2, 2.61 ERA) will make his 10th career start on Friday, his second against the Blue Jays. He took a no-decision on July 22 in the Yankees’ only win at Toronto when he allowed two runs on seven hits in five innings.
Schlittler has yielded two runs or fewer in each of his past six starts and a total of one run over his past three outings spanning 18 2/3 innings. He took a no-decision Saturday when he allowed one run on four hits in six innings against the Chicago White Sox.
Kevin Gausman (8-10, 3.75), who is 0-2 despite a 3.24 ERA over his past four starts, will open the series for Toronto. Gausman took a no-decision on Saturday when he allowed one run in seven innings against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Gausman is 11-10 with a 3.78 ERA in 38 career appearances (32 starts) against the Yankees. He was tagged for six runs in 2 2/3 innings and got ejected during an 11-2 loss at New York on April 27, but he allowed a total of only three runs in 12 innings in a pair of home wins vs. the Yankees on July 1 and July 21.