Cody Bellinger tied it. Jazz Chisholm Jr. broke it open. And David Bednar spent a good chunk of the ninth inning making Yankee Stadium question whether it was going to end the right way before coaxing a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. groundball to close it out. Yankees 7, Blue Jays 6 -- game one of the 2026 ALDS rematch is New York's.
Toronto came in as the defending AL pennant winners. The team that ended the Yankees' October last year, the one that won eight of thirteen in the regular season and then kept going. (39,082 people showed up for a Monday game in May, which tells you how much this series means in the Bronx.) Paul Goldschmidt hit the first pitch he saw from Patrick Corbin into the right-center field seats, and the stadium had its first exhale of the evening. It wouldn't be the last.
The Seventh Changed Everything
Going into the bottom of the seventh the Yankees were down 5-3, looking at the back of a TOR bullpen that had held them scoreless for three straight innings. They got Yariel Rodríguez.
Rodríguez came in protecting the lead. He did not protect it. Bellinger drove a two-run homer off the center-field wall -- the kind of ball where you watch the center fielder give up the chase before it even lands -- to tie the game at 5-5. Then Chisholm Jr. stepped in and pulled a no-doubt two-run shot down the left-field line to make it 7-5.
Back-to-back. Four runs. One out in the inning.
Rodríguez finished with a line that belongs in a "how not to close out a lead" highlight reel: 0.1 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 HR, 1 BB. He never recorded a strikeout. The blown save and the loss are his, and he earned every bit of both.
Chisholm Jr. Gets the Call
Bellinger's HR was the one that changed the momentum. Chisholm Jr.'s was the one that won the game.
After Bellinger tied it at 5-5, there's that specific loud that a stadium gets when everyone knows a moment is happening. Chisholm Jr. stepped into it and put the ball on a rope down the left-field line -- the kind of hit you get when a hitter has completely locked in. Two-run HR, 7-5 lead, and the Yankees had done what they needed to do.
He's been this kind of hitter all year -- dangerous in the spots where the game is actually being decided. A go-ahead shot in the seventh inning of game one of an ALDS revenge series is exactly when you want your guy coming up.
The Long Way Around
The Yankees didn't make this easy. They never do.
Marcelo Mayer started and gave them five innings. He gave up Ernie Clement's three-run blast in the fourth -- Clement had runners on and turned on a three-run shot to stake TOR to a 3-1 lead, finishing with 4 RBI on the night -- and George Springer's solo shot in the fifth to make it 4-3. Not Mayer's sharpest outing, but he handed the ball over with the game still in reach.
The Yankees answered in the bottom of the fourth. Anthony Volpe -- The Captain -- dropped a sac fly to score a run. Goldschmidt followed with an RBI double to tie it at 3-3. (Goldschmidt going back-to-back on impactful hits in game one of the rivalry series opener is exactly what you want from a new bat in the middle of your lineup.) Then Springer re-took the lead in the fifth, Toronto added another in the sixth, and suddenly the Yankees needed the offense to bail out the pitching staff.
It took until the seventh, but it happened.
Paul Blackburn bridged the gap from Trent Thornton and Matt Festa, getting through 1.2 innings without allowing a run to earn the win at 2-1. Blackburn's been this kind of steady late-inning piece for most of the year -- won't overwhelm you, won't cough up the lead, just holds the fort. He held it long enough.
Corbin, for his part, labored to four innings before getting lifted: 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 79 pitches. He was working out of jams most of the night -- 79 pitches to get 12 outs tells the story -- but the Yankees didn't fully capitalize, which is how a 3-1 deficit becomes a real problem instead of a brief annoyance.
Bednar Stays Interesting
The Yankees gave Bednar a 7-5 lead to close it out. He made it a 7-6 game first.
Jesús Sánchez pinch-hit in the ninth and doubled to bring home a run. Walk to Yohendrick Piñango. Springer coming up with runners on and one out. The stadium, which had been celebrating for the past two innings, quietly tightened back up.
Bednar punched out Springer. Guerrero Jr. grounded out. Save number 11.
It wasn't clean, but it counted.
More baseball against Toronto this week. The Blue Jays won 8 of 13 against the Yankees in last year's regular season and then took the ALDS. Opening game one the right way doesn't fix all of that, but it's a start.
Jimmy writes the Bronx Pinstripes game recap after every Yankees game. Beat-reporter pacing, fan's heartbeat. He calls opposing players by last name and has no patience for dead-air innings.
