Blue Jays Survive Bichette Scare, but Yankees Take Rain-Soaked Battle at Yankee Stadium
Saturday afternoon in the Bronx turned into a long, strange day of baseball, one that was split in half by a nearly two-hour rain delay. For the Toronto Blue Jays, it was a game marked by both relief and frustration. Relief came when Bo Bichette avoided what could have been a devastating injury. Frustration came in the form of a 3-1 loss to the New York Yankees that shrunk their American League East lead to just three games.
Bichette’s Scary Moment at the Plate
The turning point — and scariest moment for Toronto fans — arrived in the top of the sixth inning. Bichette, who had already smacked his league-leading 44th double, tried to score on a single from Nathan Lukes. As he rounded third, the Yankees’ right fielder Cody Bellinger scooped the ball cleanly and launched a rocket toward home plate.
The one-hop throw, clocked at 95.3 mph, arrived perfectly on target. Yankees catcher Austin Wells applied the tag just as Bichette slid feet-first into home. The collision was as jarring as it looked. Bichette’s leg connected with Wells’s knee, and the shortstop immediately grabbed his shin in pain.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider summed it up afterward: “Give them credit. It’s a hell of a throw and a perfect tag.”
For a moment, though, the tag wasn’t the concern. Bichette limped toward the dugout before stopping and bending over in visible discomfort. Team trainer Jose Ministral helped him down the steps, and the Blue Jays’ clubhouse fell silent. The thought of losing Bichette — the heart of Toronto’s lineup — at this critical point in September was chilling.
Rain Delay Brings Unexpected Silver Lining
Almost immediately after the play, the skies opened and Yankee Stadium was drenched in a downpour that forced a one-hour, 46-minute delay. While most of the 45,000-plus in attendance scrambled for cover, Bichette was undergoing X-rays.
The results: negative. No fracture, no major damage. The shortstop had suffered a painful cut to his shin, but it was manageable. When the tarp finally came off and play resumed, Bichette was back at shortstop.
Schneider admitted the scene had been unsettling. “I’m not a big fan of blood. Let the trainers do their thing. Didn’t look great. We’re at the point, though, where if you can play, you can play. Bo understands that.”
Bichette would later strike out in the eighth, but his return to the field was enough to steady Toronto’s nerves.
Pitching Duel and Missed Chances
Before the rain delay, starter Chris Bassitt had done his part to keep the Blue Jays in the game. Despite allowing two unearned runs across five innings, Bassitt worked out of several tough jams. The most notable came in the fifth when Aaron Judge stepped in with runners on first and second. After a mound visit from pitching coach Pete Walker, Bassitt bore down and induced a weak grounder from Judge and then retired Bellinger to escape.
After the game, Bassitt admitted he was shaken by the collision at home plate. “Obviously just the safety and health of both players. That’s a play that’s not dirty, by any means. It was just one of those plays where the catcher’s in the way of a guy sliding.”
On the Yankees’ side, Luis Gil was sharp. He held Toronto to just one run over six innings, keeping the Blue Jays’ bats quiet before turning the game over to the bullpen. Fernando Cruz, Luke Weaver, and David Bednar combined to shut down Toronto over the final three frames.
Yankees Add Insurance, Toronto Falters
The Yankees padded their lead in the sixth with a sacrifice fly from Wells off reliever Louis Varland. From there, New York’s pitching staff slammed the door. Toronto, which had pounded Yankees pitching the night before in a 7-1 win, couldn’t generate sustained offense this time.
Schneider acknowledged the difference in his team’s approach: “I don’t want to say stark contrast from yesterday, but I think we had some chances to keep the line moving and didn’t get that big hit. We didn’t really generate that much traffic and just didn’t take advantage.”
What’s Next
Saturday’s loss dropped Toronto to 82-60, while the Yankees improved to 79-63, pulling within striking distance in the AL East. With just three games separating the clubs, Sunday’s finale looms large. It’s the last regular-season meeting between these two rivals, and the pitching matchup is as big as it gets: Max Scherzer for the Blue Jays against Max Fried for the Yankees.
The Blue Jays may have lost the battle, but they avoided losing Bichette, which could prove more important than the game itself. September baseball is unforgiving, and Toronto will need their shortstop’s bat and leadership if they hope to fend off a surging Yankees squad down the stretch.