NEW YORK (AP) Russell Martin hit two home runs and drove in four runs against his former team, and the Toronto Blue Jays homered five times to beat the New York Yankees 11-5 Friday night in the opener of their weekend showdown for first place in the AL East.
”We definitely feed off one another, for sure. It’s just our lineup, it just has a lot of depth,” Martin said. ”I don’t think the opposing pitchers feel like they have any breathing room out there. It’s just one after the other.”
Josh Donaldson and Justin Smoak each hit a two-run shot in a five-run first inning to build a big lead for David Price. Edwin Encarnacion added a titanic drive after the Blue Jays chased rookie starter Luis Severino in the third.
Seeking its first playoff appearance in 22 years, Toronto increased its division lead to 2 1/2 games over New York. The teams play a rare single-admission doubleheader at Yankee Stadium on Saturday to make up Thursday night’s rainout. The four-game series concludes Sunday.
A vocal contingent of Toronto fans made themselves heard all night, with Yankees supporters attempting to drown out chants of ”Let’s go Blue Jays!” after the crowd of 40,220 had dwindled considerably by the eighth inning.
Didi Gregorius hit a three-run homer and knocked in four for the Yankees, who have a comfortable lead in the wild-card race to fall back on. But they want to win the AL East and avoid the win-or-go-home scenario of a wild-card game.
Handed an 8-1 cushion, Price (15-5) lasted only five innings because he needed 96 pitches to get that far. The ace left-hander struck out seven and improved to 6-1 since the Blue Jays acquired him in a July 30 trade with Detroit.
He has defeated the Yankees twice in three starts since then and has not permitted more than three runs in any of his seven outings with Toronto – Price is 6-0 with a 2.01 ERA in his last eight starts at Yankee Stadium.
The Mets, meanwhile, took another step toward a division title in the NL East with a 5-1 win over the Braves in Atlanta, with Steven Matz pitching five strong innings, Yoenis Cespedes hitting a home run and three RBIs.
After their fifth straight win, the Mets lead by a season-high 8 1/2 games over Washington.
NL batting leader Bryce Harper struck out three times and stranded five runners, as fading Washington lost its fourth straight game in a 2-1 result at Miami.
The Nationals out-hit the Marlins 7-5 but went 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position, and their lone run was unearned.
The Pirates ended a seven-game losing streak against Milwaukee with a 6-3 in at Pittsburgh and the Cubs had two wins in a double-header at Philadelphia.
Jake Arrieta pitched eight strong innings for his major league-leading 19th win as the Cubs beat the Phillies 5-1 in the first game. In the second game, Kyle Schwarber homered twice in a 7-3 win.
Elsewhere, Cincinnati and St. Louis were tied 2-2 in the eighth inning when play was suspended because of rain, Arizona beat the Dodgers 12-4, Colorado had a 4-1 win over Seattle and San Francisco thumped San Diego 9-1.
In the American League, the Texas Rangers beat the Oakland Athletics 4-0, Minnesota had a 6-2 win over the Chicago White Sox, Baltimore beat Kansas City 8-4, the Los Angeles Angels edged Houston 3-2 and the Tampa Bay Rays beat Boston 8-4.
Red Sox slugger David Ortiz remained two homers shy of becoming the 27th player to reach 500. He had an RBI double and a single in four at-bats.
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