None of that stopped New York from doing what it's done for most of August. The Yankees carried a 4-game winning streak into Friday, and this one extended it behind another quality start and a lineup that's found its power in unexpected places.
Toronto wasn't walking in cold, either — the Blue Jays had won their last game before this series, and had taken 2 of 3 from Tampa Bay behind Josh Smith's two-run homer, before Smith himself landed on the 10-day IL. That kind of thin margin for error is the story of Toronto's season: any spark tends to get offset by the next man going down.
The game turned in the second inning, when Spencer Jones — up from the minors and mashing all month — turned on a Spencer Arrighetti cutter and sent it 394 feet to right for a two-run shot that held up on replay review. Jerar Encarnacion added a sacrifice fly for New York's third run, and Alejandro Kirk's single in the fifth was the only dent Toronto could make against Schlittler and the bullpen behind him.
Schlittler worked 6 innings and turned it over to a Yankees bullpen that's been about as reliable as any in the league this month, while Toronto's relief corps — everyone not named Fluharty — actually settled in and threw 3 scoreless innings once the damage was already done. It wasn't enough. New York's fifth straight win keeps the pressure on in the AL East race, and Toronto heads into the rest of the series still searching for saves it can bank.