Ryan Goins successfully pulled off a hidden-ball trick and hit his second career grand slam, leading the Toronto Blue Jays over Masahiro Tanaka and the Yankees 8-1 Friday night and ensuring New York had to wait at least one more day to clinch a playoff berth.
With Todd Frazier on base following a leadoff double in the third, Jose Bautista made a running catch just in front of the right field warning track on Jacoby Ellsbury's one-out drive. Goins caught Bautista's throw while standing near second base, then pretended to toss the ball to pitcher Marco Estrada while slipping in into his glove.
Goins turned his back to Frazier, who had returned to the base, and when Frazier briefly lifted his left foot off the base, Goins tagged him on the left thigh. Frazier insisted he had maintained contact with the base, but umpire Mark Carlson called him out to end the inning.
Goins, Russell Martin and Teoscar Hernandez homered off Tanaka (12-12), who has allowed 35 home runs, one behind major league leader John Lackey of the Chicago Cubs.
Tanaka gave up eight runs - seven earned - six hits and three walks in 5 2/3 innings, raising his ERA to 4.94. Tanaka has allowed seven earned runs five times this season, including twice in his last three starts.
Aaron Judge hit a solo home run for the Yankees, a drive that would have gone 469 feet unimpeded, his second-longest this season according to Major League Baseball's Statcast. Judge leads the AL with 46 home runs, including nine in September.
New York needed to win and have both the Los Angeles Angels and Texas lose to guarantee at least a wild card spot. The Yankees began the day trailing AL East-leading Boston by three games.
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Making his first start since agreeing to a $13 million deal with the Blue Jays for 2018, Estrada (10-8) allowed three hits in seven innings, improving to 5-0 in his last sux starts. The Blue Jays are 37-23 against the Yankees since July 26, 2014.
Judge, who also walked twice, homered in the first. Bautista's RBI grounder tied the score in the bottom half, Hernandez hit a solo homer into the third deck in the third, and Martin hit a two-run drive in the fourth.
Goins, who connected on an 0-2 pitch, hit his first career slam at Milwaukee on May 24. He is 10 for 14 with 20 RBIs with the bases loaded situations this season. His 10 hits matched Carlos Delgado's 2003 team record.
TRAINERS ROOM
Yankees: OF Brett Gardner was held out of the starting lineup. Gardner left Wednesday's game after being hit on the back of his right shoulder by a pitch. He is expected to return to the lineup Saturday.
Blue Jays: OF Steve Pearce (back) will miss the remainder of the season. Pearce has been out since leaving a Sept. 8 game after one at-bat.
UP NEXT
Yankees: RHP Sonny Gray (9-11, 3.38) starts Saturday and is 3-6 with a 3.29 ERA in nine outings since he was acquired from Oakland on July 31. Gray pitched four innings in a Sept. 17 loss to Baltimore, his shortest start of the season.
Blue Jays: RHP Joe Biagini (3-11, 5.33) allowed six runs - four earned - in 1 1/3 innings in his previous start at Minnesota. Biagini has lost three straight decisions.
