“Gotta do a better job” - Blue Jays coach acknowledges Yankees' Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger for “good” relay plays in latest 4-3 loss

The Toronto Blue Jays' lead in the American League East was cut to two games after a 4-3 loss to their division rivals, the New York Yankees, in the series finale on Sunday.

One of the pivotal plays came in the opening frame with veteran Jays starter Max Scherzer on the mound. The Yankees had two runners on base in the bottom of the first inning: Cody Bellinger on first and Aaron Judge on second.

With Ben Rice at the plate, Judge tipped Scherzer’s changeups to Rice after getting relays from Bellinger. Rice had a prolonged at-bat against the Blue Jays ace, eventually making it count by smashing a three-run home run on the 10th pitch he saw.

Following the game, Blue Jays manager John Schneider gave credit to Judge and the Yankees for their relay work.

"Major League Baseball knows the Yankees are good when they got something. I’m not the only one that’s going to say it," Schneider said.

"Maybe I’m the only one that’s 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, you got to make pitches.”

The homer gave the Yankees an early lead. Although the Blue Jays tied the score in the top of the third, New York regained the lead in the bottom half and held on to clinch the rubber game.

Blue Jays ace Max Scherzer reflects on Cody Bellinger and Aaron Judge relaying his pitches

Max Scherzer, a three-time Cy Young Award winner with more than a decade in the majors, said it was not the first time opponents had tipped his pitches. Still, he was surprised Bellinger was able to relay his changeups.

"I thought I had addressed it. I thought I had made the proper adjustment to get my glove in front of my face but clearly I hadn’t,” Scherzer said.

Scherzer threw 17 changeups during Sunday's start before being taken off the mound. The veteran ace went 4.1 innings deep, conceding four earned runs, three hits and walking four hitters with eight strikeouts in a shaky outing.

About the author

Chaitanya Prakash is an editor who covers US Sports at Sportskeeda. His first brush with sportswriting was in 2012 when the greatest football manager of all time, Sir Alex Ferguson, bid farewell to the beautiful game.

Although having started out professionally as a cricket writer in 2022, Chaitanya's curiosity and indiscriminate interest in all sports in general eventually introduced him to America's favorite pastime.

While Chaitanya's favorite player from the current crop is the dynamic Venezuelan Ronald Acuna Jr., his all-time favorite, however, is Pedro Martinez, for his self-belief and consistency. He also rates Jose Bautista's iconic bat flip in 2015 as his favorite moment in baseball history.

Chaitanya specializes in reporting on technical aspects of the game or analyzing patterns behind specific plays. He also likes pondering over players' self-assessments following the conclusion of a game as it helps him get an idea of how they think about the sport in general.

When not cheering for his favorites across sports, Chaitanya likes being transported to the past through a good war documentary or a historical documentary in general.

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Edited by Chaitanya Prakash