Yankees Lose to Blue Jays on ‘Thank You Cito Night’

The New York Yankees (94–65) lost the rubber match of their three-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays (82–76) on Wednesday 8–4, with Javier Vazquez giving up seven runs in 4.2 innings, including three homers.

The Yankees loss gave the Jays their first season series win against New York since 2000 10–8.

The Blue Jays also broke their franchise record for the most home runs in a season with 247 and sit fifth all-time with that tally. The 1997 Seattle Mariners hit the most homers in a season with 264.

It was a fitting home field sendoff for famed Blue Jays manager Clarence “Cito” Gaston, who is retiring this year after 21 years as a manager and 12 years as an MLB player.

The crowd of 33,143 gave the beloved manager several standing ovations over the course of the night after an opening ceremony kicked off the evening.

Travis Snider—who donned a fake mustache in honor of Gaston—set the tone for the game in the bottom of the first with a solo homer to put the Jays up 1–0. Snider’s homer tied the Blue Jays franchise record for most home runs in a season.

Jays catcher John Buck then broke the record in the second inning with another solo homer. Snider chased that with a single to send John McDonald home to make the score 3–0 Blue Jays.

Then, in the bottom of the fifth inning Aaron Hill hit a three-run homer to put the Jays up 7–0 and seal the Yankees fate.

The Yankees made a push in the sixth inning scoring three runs that began with a homer from Alex Rodriguez. Robinson Cano was hit by a pitch and Austin Kearns was walked, and then the Yankees hit three straight singles.

Brett Cecil (15–7) got the win for Toronto, pitching for 5.1 innings.

Final Series

The Yankees clinched their playoff spot on Tuesday with a 6–1 win over the Jays, but the AL East Division title is still very much up for grabs with the Tampa Bay Rays losing to the Baltimore Orioles 6–3 on Wednesday.

The Yankees are still only 0.5 games back of the Rays. They catch a day off on Thursday before heading into their final series of the regular season on Friday, fittingly against their old-time rivals the Boston Red Sox.

The Rays head into a four-game series against the Kansas City Royals on Thursday, who they lead 12–5 this season.

As for the Blue Jays, they head into a three-game road series starting Friday against the Minnesota Twins.

Cito Gaston won two World Series championships with the Blue Jays in 1992 and 1993 after taking over the management role in 1989.

He was fired in 1997, but returned as manager in 2008 and got the team back above the .500 mark.

“It’s not like I’m dead,” Gaston said in a press conference before Wednesday’s game. “I’m leaving on my own terms, moving on to do something else. It’s been my pleasure.”