TORONTO — With the Yankees and Blue Jays tied at three and Ryan McMahon on second in the ninth inning, Toronto’s Braydon Fisher made the mistake of throwing a flat, 3-2 slider to Ben Rice on Sunday.
Rice responded with a ferocious uppercut, pulling a 381-foot, go-ahead homer to right. With the slugger’s 19th home run of the season easily clearing the field of play at 101.2 mph, the Yankees pulled off an 8-3, series-winning victory to end their first trip to the Rogers Centre this season.
The building had previously been a house of horrors for them, as they lost two ALDS games and 6-of-7 regular season contests in Canada in 2025.
Rice, who has been the Yankees’ best hitter this season and now has a .998 OPS, wasn’t alone in providing offense on Sunday. José Caballero added a three-run, game-breaking blast before the ninth inning ended, while Anthony Volpe made an impact in his return to the lineup earlier in the day.
The struggling shortstop, who sat while Caballero started at the position on Friday and Saturday, put the Yankees on the board in the second inning, giving them a 1-0 lead with an RBI single. Volpe, who began the game with a measly .194 average and a .606 OPS, produced the same result in the sixth inning, handing the Yanks a 3-2 edge.
Volpe, who hasn’t played the best defense of late either, also looked good in the field on Sunday. He showed off his range in the first inning, venturing to the second base side of the bag to steal a single from Yohendrick Piñango, and snagged a line drive in the hole to end the game.
The Blue Jays scored their first run in the third inning when Kazuma Okamoto singled and took an extra base on an Amed Rosario throwing error. Nathan Lukes then tied the game at two with a single in the fourth frame. Cody Bellinger threw the ball away on that play, too, though he wasn’t charged with an error.
Will Warren, meanwhile, needed 98 pitches to complete four innings, though he held the Jays to two earned runs. Jake Bird went on to allow a solo homer to Davis Schneider in the sixth, which tied the game at three.
The reliever now has a 5.14 ERA this season.
Ali Sánchez also had an RBI double for the Yankees, his first hit with the team, in the second inning.