Ben Rice delivers a knockout blow in the ninth as the Yankees win a Nail-Biter

Toronto—The Yankees won a nail-biter 5-4 thanks to the biggest swing of the season so far in the ninth inning. Cam Schlittler got the starting nod for the Yankees, making his second career start, facing off against future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer, who is making his 462nd start. 

Trent Grisham led off the ballgame with a line drive single to right field. Cody Bellinger followed that up with a double to put two runners in scoring position with nobody out. A couple batters later, Jazz Chisholm Jr. launched a three-run home run, his 18th of the year to quickly give the Yankees a 3-0 lead. 

"I'm always trying to look for the pitch right down the middle," Jazz said. "Like, facing him so many times, I've seen all his pitches for the last six years, and for me, it's just like, you know, you see a guy enough, you start to really see how his stuff looks, every at bat, and over the past couple of years. I mean, from facing him so many times, I just feel a little bit more comfortable." 

The Jays quickly responded with a two-out RBI single from Adison Barger to make it a 3-1 game in the bottom half of the first inning. 

In the bottom of the second inning, Cam gave up a single and walked a couple of batters, but got Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to pop out to help work into and out of trouble. 

With one out in the top of the third inning, Belli laced his second double of the ballgame into the right-center gap. A couple of batters later, Jazz worked a walk, but Giancarlo Stanton went down on strikes to strand two runners on base. 

In the bottom of the third inning, Cam worked a 1-2-3 inning and picked up his third strikeout of the ballgame in the process. 

Belli launched his 18th home run of the season with two outs in the top of the fifth inning, his third extra base hit of the night to make it a 4-1 game. 

"Yeah, he's definitely had my number," Cody said of his past against Scherzer. "Honestly, it just felt really good in the cage today. Really liked where I was at, and just wanted to translate that into the game and continue to stay with my plan, and it worked out today." 

In the bottom half of the fifth inning, Cam gave up back-to-back singles to start the inning. Then Anthony Volpe and Jazz turned a nice double play. However, the Yankee killer Barger picked up his second RBI single to cut the Yankees' lead in half, making it 4-2. 

Tim Hill replaced Cam on the mound in the bottom of the sixth inning. It looked like the Yankees had the first out of the inning, but Volpe's 13th error of the season, a routine throw, allowed the leadoff man to reach. That error came back to bite the Yankees as David Schneider came through with a RBI double to make it a 4-3 game. Jonathan Loáisiga took over for Hill and immediately served up a RBI single to George Springer to tie this game up at 4-4 as the Volpe error cost the Yankees two runs. 

Cam Schlittler's final line: five innings pitched, seven hits allowed, two earned runs, three walks, nine swings and misses, and three strikeouts on 90 pitches. Cam relied heavily on the fastball, throwing it 50% of the time, the slider 24%, the curveball 11%, the sweeper 11%, and the sinker 3% of the time. Cam didn't have his best command tonight, but for his second career start in a must-win game, you couldn't ask for much more, limiting a red-hot Jays team to two runs. 

"Honestly, just kind of battling, right," Schlittler said. "Just, you know, get behind a little bit with the off-speed, just trying to be aggressive with the fastball. Just missing up a little, so it's kind of more of a grind than it should be, but just trying to battle and try and get through the innings." 

For some reason, Loáisiga remained in the game for the bottom of the seventh inning and immediately gave up a leadoff double. Luke Weaver took over for Loáisiga and picked up the final three outs to strand the go-ahead run in scoring position. 

The Jays intentionally walked Aaron Judge with nobody on and two outs in the top of the eighth inning and proved to be the right move, as Jazz struck out to end the inning. 

Weaver remained in the game for the bottom of the eighth inning, picked up the first two outs, and walked a batter. Ian Hamilton was then called upon to replace Weaver and recorded the final out of the eighth to keep it a tie ballgame. 

With one out in the top of the ninth inning, Ben Rice launched a massive solo bomb, his 15th home run of the season, to give the Yankees a 5-4 lead. 

"I wouldn't say as much about him. I was just trying to stay short," Rice said on what he learned from facing the Jays' closer Jeff Hoffman last night. "Just get my pitch and put a good swing on it. And fortunately, I was able to capitalize on a pitch over the plate there."

In the bottom of the ninth inning, the Yankees turned to their closer Devin Williams and worked around a leadoff single to close out a stressful game to snap the Jays' 11-game win streak in Toronto. 

"Yeah, I mean, we got the monkey off our back a little bit there," Williams said. "You know, it was, I just said earlier, I was like, we played five games here so far. And haven't come away with the win once. So, it was nice to, you know, have a lead and, you know, be able to lock it down and leave with the win."

The Yankees will look to win the series tomorrow with Max Fried on the bump, facing off against Chris Bassitt for the Jays. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:07 p.m. ET on Prime Video. 

My thoughts on the game: Cam looked really solid tonight for his second career start. The command wasn't the best, but he did a great job holding the Jays to two runs. Just a great win tonight all around, outside of a crucial error from Volpe, but no harm, no foul. Jazz got things started with his first home run in the second half to put the Yankees in front quickly. Belli had a great game, with three extra base hits and a big home run, as well as some huge defensive plays in left field. Rice also had the swing of the season in the top of the ninth inning to give the Yankees the lead in a must-win game. The bullpen was also great, as Weaver stepped up, picking up five huge outs, and Williams picked up the final three outs to record the save. Williams has stepped up big as of late, Devin Williams over his last 27 outings: 2.45 ERA | 36.7% K% | 2.23 FIP | 0.74 WHIP. I forgot to mention this earlier, but during the seventh inning when Judge was throwing a ball into the infield, it looked like he was wincing a little bit, so hopefully he is okay. On to tomorrow as the Yankees have a chance to win the series with Fried on the mound.