One Win Away: Blue Jays beat Rays 5-1 to trim magic number to one for East title

TORONTO — The New York Yankees keep trying to put the pressure on Toronto. The Blue Jays continue to rise to the challenge.

The American League East rivals posted victories again Saturday to remain tied for the division lead.

Toronto’s tiebreaker advantage looms large as the regular season wraps up Sunday. The Blue Jays’ 5-1 win on Saturday gives them a magic number of one ahead of their finale against the Tampa Bay Rays at Rogers Centre.

A Toronto win or a New York loss to Baltimore will give the Blue Jays a bye into the division series. The second-place finisher has to settle for a wild-card round appearance.

“If we focus on just playing our game tomorrow, we’ll be fine,” said Blue Jays manager John Schneider. “And I think we’ve been really good at that over the course of 161 (games). So I don’t expect it to change for (No.) 162.”

Ernie Clement scored twice and drove in two runs while rookie starter Trey Yesavage (1-0) threw five shutout innings as Toronto won its third straight game. The Yankees defeated the Orioles 6-1 earlier in the day for their seventh win in a row and ninth victory in 10 games.

Clement put a charge into the sellout crowd of 42,624 in the second inning when he doubled off Joe Boyle to score Addison Barger and Davis Schneider. Clement later came around on a single by Andres Gimenez.

Clement scored again in the fifth inning on a single by Nathan Lukes. Alejandro Kirk tacked on an insurance run in the seventh for his 13th homer of the year.

Yesavage, who struck out five and walked two, survived a bases-loaded jam in the third inning by fanning Jonathan Aranda.

“He was poised,” said Clement. “He got into some tough situations and made pitches. And it’s not easy to do (that) on a big stage in a big game, and he did great.”

Yesavage allowed five hits in his first career start at Rogers Centre. His first big-league win came in his third try.

“The energy and the excitement and the buzz around the stadium — it was awesome,” he said. “I’ll always remember it.”

Kevin Gausman (10-11, 3.47 earned-run average) was tabbed to start for Toronto on Sunday against left-hander Ian Seymour (4-2, 2.85).

“I think we’ll be loose,” Clement said. “We came in today, turned the music on and we had the Ryder Cup going (on the TV) and were just kind of hanging out and playing cards.

“It’s kind of been like that all season. I can’t imagine it would change.”

The Blue Jays clinched a playoff berth last Sunday. Another win will give them some valuable rest days ahead of the division series opener next weekend.

The best-of-three wild-card series is scheduled to start Tuesday.

Toronto has been swept in the wild-card round in its last three post-season appearances. The Blue Jays last won a playoff game in 2016 when they played in the AL Championship Series for a second straight year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 27, 2025.