NEW YORK — The New York Yankees held on for their biggest win of the season Sunday after getting help from an unlikely source: future Hall of Fame starting pitcher Max Scherzer, who was tipping his changeup in the first inning. It led to Ben Rice having “the at-bat of the day,” as Yankees manager Aaron Boone described it.

The Yankees put their pitch-tipping expertise into motion after Cody Bellinger, who hit third in the lineup, reached first base on a single. With Aaron Judge on second base, Bellinger alerted the Yankees captain by motioning his arms up and down, signaling a changeup from Scherzer was coming. Judge then repeated the motion before Scherzer delivered a changeup, allowing Rice to know that the pitch was coming.

“That is correct. That’s what was happening,” Bellinger said after the Yankees’ series-clinching 4-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays. “We talk about it pregame, and you just go out there and look for it. If you see it, then you obviously do what you can.”

During a 10-pitch at-bat, Rice saw three changeups after falling behind 0-2 in the count. On the seventh pitch, Rice crushed a changeup 396 feet, but he pulled it foul. That’s when Blue Jays first baseman Ty France ran over to Scherzer on the mound.

“(Bellinger) did it twice, and after the second one, that’s when I knew they had something,” France said. “It was pretty obvious. You know, guys at first don’t typically flap their arms like that.”

After the mound visit, Scherzer knew he should no longer throw his changeup, so the Blue Jays starter threw a fastball and curveball on the eighth and ninth pitches of the at-bat. Rice fouled off both. Then on the 10th pitch, a fastball, Rice uncorked a 380-foot three-run homer, giving the Yankees an early 3-0 lead.

The Yankees’ pregame scouting prowess paid off. Bellinger said everyone in the clubhouse, from base coaches to the players, is knowledgeable about every pitcher’s tendencies and what to look for when it comes to possible tipping.

“They’re good at it,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “Max has got to be a little bit better, and it was obvious on the changeups. Rice just missed the one on the foul homer. It’s fair game. The whole (league) knows the Yankees are good when they got something. … Maybe I’m the only one going to say it publicly, but we got to do a better job of making sure we’re not giving anything away. So, at the end of the day, you got to be tight.”

Scherzer acknowledged that he was warned about tipping his changeup before he took the mound in the series rubber match. With the Yankees’ win, they’re now two games back of the first-place Blue Jays in the American League East.

“It’s something we’re aware of, that you can get my changeup out of my glove from first base,” Scherzer said. “It’s something we’ve known. It’s not just the Yankees. Across the league, guys can do that. I’ve had multiple people tell me that. I thought I had addressed it, thought I had made the proper adjustment to get my glove in front of my face, but clearly I hadn’t.”

The Yankees won a game in July against the Seattle Mariners when they picked up that closer Andrés Muñoz was tipping his slider. The Yankees were being no-hit that night before chipping away at the Mariners’ lead. Muñoz allowed two runs in that game, one of just two outings this season in which the All-Star reliever has allowed at least two runs.

Bellinger said, “I guess we’re good at it,” when discussing how frustrating it likely is for opponents when they realize the Yankees are relaying signs to the batter. Relaying signs without the use of technology is permitted under MLB rules, and the Yankees’ ability to figure it out in real time just gave them a key division series win with 19 games remaining.

“Maybe we’re just so obvious with it with our motion,” Bellinger said with a smile about their signals. “I think that’s probably what it is. A lot of teams are discreet. We just kind of, if we got it, you know.”

(Photo of Max Scherzer: Heather Khalifa / Associated Press)