Jose Bautista had two hits and a walk in what was likely his final home game with the Toronto Blue Jays, leaving to a standing ovation during the ninth inning of a 9-5 win over the New York Yankees on Sunday.
Bautista, who turns 38 next month, is hitting .203 with 22 homers and 62 RBIs, and Toronto appears unlikely to exercise its half of a $17 million mutual option.
Aaron Judge homered twice for the Yankees, increasing his AL-leading total to 48 - one shy of the major league rookie record set by Mark McGwire in 1987. Judge has 11 home runs in September.
A day after clinching a postseason berth, New York dropped five games behind AL East-leading Boston with seven games to play. The Yankees' lead over Minnesota for the top AL wild card was cut to 4½ games.
Bautista took the field alone before the Blue Jays' last home game this year, and teammates applauded him from the top step of the dugout as the sellout crowd of 47,394 cheered. Fans stood each time Bautista came to the plate and again when Ezequiel Carrera replaced Bautista in right field with one out in the ninth. The six-time All-Star embraced several teammates as he left the field, then responded to another ovation with a curtain call.
Teoscar Hernandez homered for the third straight game and Russell Martin hit a three-run double against his former team. Toronto took two of three in the series, stopping New York's streak of six straight series wins.
Marcus Stroman (13-8), who warmed up in the bullpen wearing a black vintage Bautista Blue Jays jersey, allowed three runs and five hits in 5 2/3 innings
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Judge has 11 home runs in September, his highest total in any month. He has hit 20 homers against AL East rivals Baltimore (11) and Toronto (nine).
Left-hander Jaime Garcia jeopardized his chance of making New York's postseason roster, allowing five runs, four hits and three walks in 2 1/3 innings. Garcia (1-3) had five 3-0 counts among his 14 batters and was removed after throwing eight consecutive balls.
Hernandez homered into the second deck on Garcia's second pitch, becoming Toronto's first rookie to homer in three straight games.
Darwin Barney hit a sacrifice fly in the second, and Martin made it 5-0 with his bases-clearing double off Jonathan Holder in the third.
Toronto got four more against Bryan Mitchell in the fourth. Josh Donaldson and Bautista hit RBI singles, and Bautista was thrown out at home plate trying to score from first on Kendrys Morales' bases-loaded single.
UP NEXT
Yankees: LHP CC Sabathia (12-5, 3.81) starts as New York returns home Monday to play an afternoon makeup game against Kansas City. Sabathia is 3-0 with a 3.12 ERA in his past six starts. RHP Jakob Junis (8-2, 4.05) starts for the Royals
Blue Jays: LHP Brett Anderson (3-4, 7.15) starts the opener of a three-game series at Boston at Monday. Anderson allowed eight runs in 1 1/3 innings against Kansas City in his previous start. LHP Drew Pomeranz (16-5, 3.15) starts for the Red Sox.