Aaron Judge's glove, Giancarlo Stanton's bat send Yankees to sweep of Blue Jays

Incomplete, to steal from Allen's real sport. But still a little odd. Allen, remember, pitched quite a bit in high school in Firebaugh, Calif.

The quarterback's scattershot delivery set the stage for one of the more bizarre games in the ballpark's history.

The New York Yankees completed a sweep of the three-game series with a 8-4 win over Toronto. But that bottom line, which featured yet another Blue Jays bullpen implosion, hardly reflected all that it took to get to that point.

The Yankees pulled off their second triple play of the season in the Toronto first, as the Blue Jays ran themselves out of the inning worse than most Little League teams would. The Yankees built a 3-0 lead in the third but were behind, 4-3, in the sixth and things looked bleaker when Toronto right fielder Cavan Biggio drove a high fly to deep right field.

The ball soared toward the gate between the party deck and the foul pole, and a 6-3 Toronto lead seemed imminent. But Aaron Judge, all 6 feet, 7 inches of him, soared over the wall to pull it back with one of the greatest catches in ballpark history.

HE JUST SAVED A HOME RUN AARON JUDGE pic.twitter.com/MlRcj0iWBx

— John Sterling Calls (@JSterlingCalls) June 18, 2021

Toronto didn't score in the inning and the Blue Jays were quickly cooked in the top of the seventh for the second straight night. Anthony Castro gave up a leadoff single to Rougned Odor and Giancarlo Stanton lashed an opposite-field, two-run laser into the party deck for his 13th homer of the season.

In just a couple of minutes, what appeared to be a three-run deficit was transformed into a 5-4 lead and the nearly exclusive Yankees crowd of 7,288 was energized again. Castro gave up two more singles before he was mercifully relieved and Chris Gittens' two-out, two-run single to right-center field capped a four-run inning.

She's gone! A STANTONIAN home run! Giancarlo! Non si puo stopparlo! pic.twitter.com/xSBKemgM7K

— John Sterling Calls (@JSterlingCalls) June 18, 2021

Judge didn't speak on a postgame video call but his catch was obviously a major talking point after this one.

"It's crazy. That was an awesome play," Stanton said. "Definitely takes the energy out of that other dugout too. Huge play."

"It was amazing. At first we couldn't really see it," Gittens said of the Yankees in the first-base dugout. "(A couple players) were like, 'Oh, my God.' But I looked over and he had the ball. We were going nuts in the dugout."

Biggio said he put a lot of wood on the ball. But right field in Sahlen Field has always had questionable carry with breeze from Lake Erie.

"I was hoping it was going to keep going," Biggio said. "I saw him timing the leap up and he made an unbelievable play, definitely a game-changing play."

Stanton's blast quickly turned the game around in the top of the next inning.

"He saved two runs and I hit two runs," Stanton joked. "There's only so long we can underperform, take this beating inside and out. It's not a fun environment going out there and not playing to our abilities. It's time to step up, start punching back and that's what we were doing."

The sweep was a quick flip of the season for both clubs after the 3-hour, 43-minute affair that stretched to nearly 11 p.m. The Yankees (36-32) were in major crisis mode after coming here in a 5-13 rut that included back-to-back losses to former manager Joe Girardi in Philadelphia, but they responded by posting the first road sweep in their history where they trailed in the seventh inning or later of every game.

'This is a big series for us. We had some gut check wins," said manager Aaron Boone. "We had to come  from behind with a lot of people contributing. It was exciting to pull this one out tonight."

The Blue Jays, meanwhile, headed to Baltimore on a very sour note. 

At 33-34, they fell below .500 for the first time since April 28. They are 3-5 in Sahlen Field this year. With the bullpen imploding almost on a nightly basis, Toronto has lost an MLB-high 10 games when leading in the seventh inning or later -- five of them in the last 10 days. Anthony Castro took the beating in this one, allowing all four of the Yankees' runs in the seventh. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had a quiet series, going just 3 for 12 with no extra-base hits.

Manager Charlie Montoyo is searching for answers. Maybe outfielder George Springer can rejoin the club off his rehab stint with the Bisons during this road trip. Maybe General Manager Ross Atkins can find them a relief pitcher. As much of a downer as the Judge catch was, Montoyo wasn't ready to call it the play of the game.

"We just couldn't stop them so I don't think it changed the game," Montoyo said. "But he was in the right spot at the right time. He's a good outfielder, and not many people can make that play."

Not many teams run into the triple play the Blue Jays did either in the first. It gave the Yankees two in a season for the first time in their history. The first was an around-the-horn special with Aroldis Chapman on the mound in the ninth inning of their May 21 win over the Chicago White Sox.

The Blue Jays were in great shape with Marcus Semien at third and Bo Bichette at second with nobody out and Guerrero at the plate. Guerrero hit a chopper to the third-base side of the mound and pitcher Michael King threw him out at first but then things got wacky.

Bichette strayed too far from second heading to third while Semien wasn't going home. First baseman D.J. LeMahieu threw behind Bichette and Semien broke for home and was nailed in a rundown. Third baseman Gio Urshela tagged out Semien and then Bichette tried to sneak into third and Urshela wheeled and nailed Bichette by throwing to Gleyber Torres covering.

The call stood after replay – thus becoming the first 1-3-6-2-5-6 triple play in baseball history.

We'll order another triple play, please. pic.twitter.com/RG3NDiI4kE

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) June 17, 2021

"'Kinger' gets back in the count (after Guerrero was ahead, 3-0), executes a pitch and did a really good job of not being in a hurry," Boone said. "He's getting off the mound, slowing the game down and made a really good solid play. It was huge. Who knows where that inning goes?"

"I'm not going to sugar-coat it. We didn't do a good job on that," Montoyo said. "That's going to happen and young kids are going to make mistakes, and that was one of those."

There were 12 pitchers used in the game, seven by Toronto. Jays starter T.J. Zeuch only lasted three innings and it was too much to ask the pen to get through six innings. Castro's ERA bloated to 5.14 and he took the loss.