J.C. Escarra shoulders burden for costly Yankees catcher’s interference

TORONTO — Yankees catchers are among the best in the game at stealing strikes and framing pitches.

But the potential downside of that skill came back to bite them Tuesday for a second straight game as J.C. Escarra’s catcher’s interference loomed large in a 12-5 loss to the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.

With runners on first and second and one out in a tie game in the bottom of the seventh, Luke Weaver thought he had a called third strike on Addison Barger. But as the pinch hitter checked his swing on a full count, his bat hit Escarra’s glove, which led the Blue Jays to call for a challenge that they won to load the bases in what became a five-run rally.

“He wasn’t going to swing, but at the end of the day, I shouldn’t have been too close like that,” Escarra said. “Going forward, I’ve really got to make it a priority to not get too deep in there.”

To help frame pitches, Escarra — starting a second straight game for Austin Wells as he recovered from invasive testing for a lack of circulation in his finger — gets close to the plate and tries to catch the ball before it gets too deep.

But that can sometimes lead to interfering with swings, which he did on Tuesday for the third time this season, tying him for the major league lead.