TORONTO (AP) - Brett Gardner was at a loss for words to describe his latest ejection.
That was ironic, considering Gardner insisted he hadn’t opened his mouth before getting tossed.
Gardner lost his cool and the New York Yankees lost their nine-game winning streak, beaten by the Toronto Blue Jays 8-2 Friday night.
“Just super frustrating,” Gardner said. “Just when you think you’ve seen it all. I don’t even know what to say.”
Teoscar Hernandez homered twice, Danny Jansen hit a three-run blast and Randal Grichuk added a two-run shot. Toronto connected three times off homer-prone lefty J.A. Happ (9-7).
Blue Jays rookie Bo Bichette went hitless for the first time in his 12-game career, ending a major league record streak that saw him hit at least one double in nine consecutive games. Instead of contributing with his bat, the 21-year-old shortstop bailed the Blue Jays out with his glove, making a run-saving catch on Didi Gregorius’ bases-loaded liner to end the fifth.
Bichette walked and scored in the first, grounded out in the third and fourth and struck out in the seventh. His average dropped from .408 to .385.
Gardner was ejected and had to be restrained from going after home plate umpire Chris Segal in the fourth inning.
Segal called Cameron Maybin out on a third strike that appeared to miss low but was lifted into the strike zone by catcher Danny Jansen. Yankees manager Aaron Boone, bench coach Josh Bard and Gardner protested from the dugout before Segal ejected Gardner following another low strike during Mike Tauchman’s at-bat.
“He just wanted to assume or wanted to take a guess, and he was wrong,” Gardner said of Segal. “Then he lied to me about it which was a huge problem, and that’s what made me a little upset.”
At first, Boone came out alone to talk to Segal, who is normally a Triple-A umpire. Initially calm when he left the dugout, Gardner soon lost his temper when he learned he’d been ejected and had to be restrained by Boone, Tauchman and crew chief Dan Iassogna. Gardner had doubled and struck out earlier in the game.
“Gardy is as competitive and as fiery as they come,” Boone said. “If you’re going to get kicked out of a game you want it to be justified and warranted, so I understand how fired up he was, and I found out how strong he was trying to hold him back.”
Television replays appeared to show that Maybin, who was seated next to Gardner on the bench, made the comment that led to the ejection.
“I didn’t even open my mouth, which is unusual for me,” Gardner joked.
Iassogna told a pool reporter: “It will be put on our report and we will put in what happened on the field, and we will watch the tape.”
Last month at Yankee Stadium, Gardner became upset with the strike zone in a game against Tampa Bay and used the bat to repeatedly pound the bat rack and the underside of the dugout roof. Boone took off on a profane rant against the umpire after Gardner was called out on strikes.
Gardner admitted banging his bat on the dugout roof again Friday.
“The last time I checked, that wasn’t against the rules,” he said.
Aaron Judge, who was not in the starting lineup, came on to play right field in the bottom of the inning for the AL East leaders. Maybin moved from right to left with Tauchman going from left to center.
Hernandez hit a solo homer in the second and added a two-run drive off Tommy Kahnle in the eighth for the sixth multihomer game of his career. The homers were his 16th and 17th.
Happ (9-7) allowed six runs and four hits in five innings. He has given up a career-worst 29 home runs this season, tying him with Houston’s Justin Verlander and Seattle’s Yusei Kikuchi for most in the majors.
“Right now it seems like if it can go wrong, it will,” Happ said. “It’s frustrating.”
Tauchman and Mike Ford hit solo home runs for the Yankees, who have two or more homers in a season-high eight straight games.
Blue Jays right-hander Sean Reid-Foley (2-2) allowed one run and five hits in five innings.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Yankees: INF Gleyber Torres (core injury) could return over the weekend, Boone said. Torres, who has missed three straight games, hit in the cage and ran on the treadmill beforehand. “Today was a good day,” Boone said. “He ramped it up pretty good on the treadmill as far as sprints and stuff and came out of it really good.” … C Gary Sanchez (strained left groin) is expected to be activated off the injured list Saturday. … RHP Luis Severino (right rotator cuff) felt good after throwing off the mound Friday, the first time he’d done so since March. Boone said he was pleased with what he saw in Severino’s 23-pitch session.
Blue Jays: OF Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (strained left quadriceps muscle) is expected to go on the injured list Saturday, manager Charlie Montoyo said. Gurriel Jr. left Thursday’s game in the ninth inning after running out an infield hit. … LHP Ryan Borucki (elbow) will miss the remainder of the season after surgery Thursday to remove a bone spur. Borucki made just two appearances for the Blue Jays in 2019.
BASHING BIRDS
The Blue Jays have homered in 14 straight games, matching a big league record by hitting 38 in that span. Four other teams have hit that many, including the Twins earlier this season. Baltimore (1987), the Yankees (2005), and Atlanta (2006) are the others.
ROTATION RE-JIG
Yankees RHP Masahiro Tanaka has been pushed back from Saturday to Sunday, giving New York more space between a bullpen day Saturday and one in Monday’s doubleheader against Baltimore.
DOLLAR DEAL
New York acquired LHP Joe Mantiply from Cincinnati for cash. Mantiply was assigned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He is not on the 40-man roster.
UP NEXT
Yankees: RHP Chad Green (2-3, 4.93) will open Saturday, his 10th start of the season.
Blue Jays: RHP Jacob Waguespack (3-1, 4.00) faces the Yankees for the first time. Waguespack is 2-0 in his past two starts, allowing one run over 12 innings.
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