New York Yankees at Toronto Blue Jays: Final Score & Recap
Line Score
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NYY | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 1 |
| TOR | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
The Story
The New York Yankees shut out the Toronto Blue Jays 2-0 on September 26, 2023, at Rogers Centre, delivering all of their offense in a single ninth-inning burst against a Blue Jays team that the DiamondIQ model had entering the game with a 58% win probability. Through eight innings of scoreless baseball, Toronto appeared to be in control behind Kevin Gausman, who kept the Yankees offense in check while accumulating a team-high +33.4% WPA on the evening. The game remained a tense 0-0 stalemate until Austin Wells stepped to the plate against closer Jordan Romano in the top of the ninth and changed everything, launching a home run that swung win probability by +35.1%, the single most impactful play of the night, and giving New York the only runs it would need.
The Blue Jays had their own chances to break through but squandered them at critical moments. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. grounded into a double play in the bottom of the eighth against Jhony Brito, a play that shifted win probability by -11.3% and effectively extinguished Toronto's most threatening late-game sequence. Brito himself was one of three Yankees pitchers who kept the Blue Jays off the board, posting a +19.2% WPA, while Michael King matched Gausman nearly pitch for pitch with a +33.2% WPA of his own. In the bottom of the ninth, Daulton Varsho's flyout against Clay Holmes carried a +12.0% WPA swing from the batting team's perspective, reflecting just how slim Toronto's remaining hope had become before Holmes closed the door entirely.
Wells was the unambiguous offensive catalyst, finishing with a +28.5% WPA and +0.9 RE24 on the strength of that decisive ninth-inning blast. Varsho led Toronto's positional players at +11.0% WPA despite the loss, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa contributed a quiet +6.2% WPA for New York. Gausman's strong outing ultimately went unrewarded, as the Blue Jays managed only three hits on the night and could not find a way to support him with any run production against a Yankees pitching staff that proved equally stingy across nine innings.