About Last Night: Yankees 5, Blue Jays 4

by Derek McAdam

May 20, 2026

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The New York Yankees defeated the Toronto Blue Jays last night by a nail-biting score of 5-4, improving to 30-19 on the season. Here is a recap of last night’s game.

Quick Stats: W: Will Warren (6-1): 5 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K

                     L: Dylan Cease (3-2): 5 IP, 4 H, 5 ER, 4 BB, 9 K

                     S: Camilo Doval (1): 1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB

HRs: NYY: Ryan McMahon (4), Ben Rice (16)

The Big Story: Coming into last night’s game, Yankees’ fans got great news regarding Gerrit Cole. While it initially seemed as if the Yankees wanted Cole to make one more start in the minors, he will make his next start with the Yankees, his first since October 2024. It has been a long time coming for Cole and Yankee fans, and we will finally be able to see him on the mound once again.

The Yankees came off a nail-biting 7-6 victory on Monday over the Blue Jays, a save that David Bednar nearly blew for the second day in a row. However, he managed to work his way out of further trouble following a run crossing the plate, and the Yankees took the first of four games against Toronto.

It was slated to be a pitchers’ duel between Cease and Warren, both of whom are in the top five in the AL in strikeout percentage. And through the first three innings, it sure seemed as if this was the case. Toronto had an opportunity in the 1st to score some runs, but were kept off the board.

In the 4th, Daulton Varsho led off the inning with a single, following by a walk to Kazuma Okamoto. Yohendrick Pinango then hit an RBI single to right to score Varsho and give the Blue Jays a 1-0 lead. Jesus Sanchez then hit a single into left field to score Okamoto and give the Blue Jays a 2-0 lead. Andres Gimenez then slapped an RBI single into left field to make it a 3-0 Toronto lead.

But in the bottom of the inning, Aaron Judge and Jazz Chisholm Jr. walked, bringing up McMahon, who was in an 0-for-24 slump at the plate. To break out of the slump, McMahon sent a pitch into the left field seats to tie the game at 3-3.

Warren’s night was done after five innings, and it seemed as if he was going to receive a no-decision. However, following a walk to Trent Grisham in the bottom of the 5th, Rice hit a two-run home run off Cease to give the Yankees a 5-3 lead. This put Warren in position for his sixth victory of the season.

Similarly to Warren, Cease’s night was complete after five innings. The Yankees had an opportunity to push more runs across the plate in the 6th, loading the bases for Grisham, who then grounded out to end the inning.

In the 7th, the Blue Jays had an opportunity with two outs and runners at the corners to take the lead. Okamoto came to the plate against Brent Headrick, but grounded into a force out to end the inning and keep the Blue Jays off the board.

Doval came in the 9th inning to try for his first save of the season and his second as a Yankee, since Bednar had two straight days of heavy work. Gimenez began the inning with a walk and Ernie Clement then got a pinch-hit single to put runners at the corners with no one out. George Springer lined back to Doval, who got the out at first but Clement advanced to second, putting the tying run in scoring position. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a sacrifice fly to make it a 5-4 Yankee lead. Varsho reached on an infield single to put the go-ahead run on base with Okamoto at the plate, who grounded out to Anthony Volpe to end the game.

Player of the Game: Ryan McMahon had the big hit to tie the game and ultimately got another hit, breaking him out of his awful slump. It must feel good for him to string together a couple of hits at the plate.

Notable Performances: Ben Rice gave the Yankees the lead and also made a nice defensive play in the field to start the 7th. The Blue Jays’ bullpen also gave them three scoreless innings of work, keeping the game in reach.

Better to Forget: Spencer Jones continues to struggle at the big league level, striking out in both of his plate appearances last night.

My Take: There’s not much more stress I can take from watching the 9th innings when the Yankees try to close the game out. There was no doubt Bednar was not going to pitch last night, so the question was who would come in for a save situation. And Doval made the most sense, since he was a former closer for the San Francisco Giants. But it was a while since he last recorded a save, and it definitely showed.

And it seemed that the Yankees were going to make another blunder in the field during the 9th that could’ve cost them the game. When Varsho reached on his infield single, Rice made a diving attempt that he probably should have let go to Chisholm. Simultaneously, Doval took a while to get to the base and the out was not recorded. But Clement made one of the stupidest base-running decisions I have seen in a long time, fortunately for the Yankees.

On the Guerrero sacrifice fly, Clement was on second base, but did not tag up and move to third. The ball was hit plenty deep enough to ensure Clement could glide into third with no issues. And if he had advanced, he would have scored on the Varsho infield single and sent the game to the bottom of the 9th. The Yankees caught themselves a break, which is perfectly fine with me.

Warren has mostly avoided the one “bad inning” this season, which was a relatively common theme last year for most of his starts. But last night was a bit of an exception to this season, as he definitely struggled to get hitters out in the 4th. And it wasn’t so much that Warren was making bad pitches. In fact, the placement was not bad, but the Toronto hitters were being the solid hitters they were and not trying to hit home runs, but simply put the ball in play.

But the key aspect was the Yankees got to Cease. And it wasn’t as if Cease was horrible on the mound. The Yankees took advantage of the walks and gave Cease two ultimate blows: the McMahon three-run home run to tie the game and the Rice home run to take the lead. And just like that, Cease recorded his second loss of the season.

I’m not the biggest fan of getting runs solely on home runs, but the Yankees need every win they can get at this point, especially against an AL East opponent. It was nice to see McMahon finally break through and send the third home run he’s hit this season into the left field seats. As for Rice, he continues to look impressive at the plate. The pitch Cease threw him was a fastball in and Rice still managed to make contact and send it into the right field seats, tying him for the team lead in home runs with Judge.

The Yankees were going to be matched fairly evenly in this series when it came to pitching matchups. They took the first two games, but these next two games, especially tonight’s, are still going to be a challenge. While they will not face Kevin Gausman this series, who seems to shut them down nearly every time he takes the mound, they will still have a tough challenge this evening. But luckily, the matchup is still going to be pretty evening, so get ready for another pitching duel in the Bronx.

What’s Next?: These two teams will be back in action tonight for the third game of this four-game series in which the Yankees will go for the series win. Trey Yesavage will start for the Blue Jays, while Cam Schlittler will take the mound for the Yankees. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. from Yankee Stadium.