Judge powers Yankees past Blue Jays 8-1

Aaron Judge's two-run homer staked New York to an early lead that the Yankees would never relinquish in a 8-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday.

TORONTO – Aaron Judge’s two-run homer staked New York to an early lead that the Yankees would never relinquish in a 8-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday.

DJ LeMahieu drove in two more runs with a single and a double as New York (54-32) split the four-game series. Trent Grisham added a two-run double and Ben Rice had an RBI single.

Gerrit Cole (1-1) allowed one run on three hits and a walk over five innings. Last year’s Cy Young Award winner struck out six and lowered his earned-run average to 6.23 in just his second start of the season.

Michael Tonkin, Tim Hill and Josh Maciejewski combined for four innings of scoreless relief.

Justin Turner’s RBI single in the fourth inning was the only run Toronto (38-45) managed to score as its offence continues to run hot and cold.

Kevin Gausman (6-7) gave up seven runs on seven hits and five walks but struck out seven over 4 1/3 innings. Genesis Cabrera, Nate Pearson, Jose Cuas, Chad Green and Bowden Francis came out of the Blue Jays’ bullpen.

Judge quickly got the Yankees on the board, with a towering blast to dead centre off a 94.5 m.p.h. four-seam fastball from Gausman. Judge’s 31st home run of the year flew 423 feet with an exit velocity of 109.8 m.p.h., scoring Juan Soto in the process for a 2-0 lead.

LeMahieu tacked another run on to New York’s edge in the second inning when his hit dropped into left field. That gave Rice time to score from second and advance Austin Wells to second.