TORONTO \u2014 Brayden Fisher was in a familiar spot for the Blue Jays.<\/p>\n
Top of the ninth. A runner on base. Tie game. One of the Yankees\u2019 power hitters at the plate.<\/p>\n
Less than 24 hours after Toronto closer Louis Varland gave up a two-run home run for the winning margin in New York\u2019s 3-1 victory, Fisher was trying to shut the door and give his team\u2019s battered batting order a chance in the bottom of the inning.<\/p>\n
A slider that didn\u2019t quite get to the right spot down and in on Yankees slugger Ben Rice would prove fatal for the Blue Jays \u2014 and represent yet another missed opportunity for the scuffling club.<\/p>\n
Rice hammered that homer to snap a 3-3 tie before Jose Caballero launched a three-run shot of his own later in the inning off Tommy Nance in what would turn into an 8-3 New York victory Sunday to take two of three games from Toronto.<\/p>\n
The Blue Jays (34-38) have leaned heavily on their bullpen in 2026 thanks to a string of injuries to the starting staff.<\/p>\n
The wear and tear might be starting to show. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe life of a reliever is really, really hard,\u201d said Toronto manager John Schneider, whose team owned a 38-32 record at this time last year. \u201cWhen they\u2019re available, they\u2019re available, and when they\u2019re not, they\u2019re not. But I think over the course of time, it takes its toll on you a little bit. We\u2019re asking a ton out of those guys.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fisher said the Rice homer was a decent pitch that required slightly better location.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that would have been the most-perfect strike pitch,\u201d he said. \u201cBut to strike him out, maybe get it a little lower, a little more in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Veteran left-hander Patrick Corbin got the start against American League-leading New York (43-27), allowing two runs on seven hits with three strikeouts in just 3 2\/3 innings before giving way to Spencer Miles with Toronto set to enjoy a day off Monday ahead of a three-game series in Boston against the Red Sox.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s been a huge story,\u201d Corbin said of the bullpen\u2019s strain. \u201cThey\u2019ve filled in and have had different roles than maybe they thought they would have. There\u2019s no complaining over there. They take the ball and they\u2019re ready to go. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve stepped up in a big way, and hopefully we, as a (starting) staff, can pitch deeper and give them some opportunities to maybe not work that day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miles, who gave up one run off a hit and a walk across 2 2\/3 innings, said the mood remains positive out beyond the left-field fence at Rogers Centre.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re in really good spirits,\u201d he said. \u201cGo out there and get strike one. You just gotta stay present and be where your feet are.<\/p>\n
\u201cKeep answering the call.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fisher said fatigue wasn\u2019t a factor Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all want to pitch,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve had some troubles with the (injured list) this year. We\u2019re getting our guys back here soon, so the workload will go down a little bit. We\u2019re all happy and sad about that \u2014 we all love pitching. It\u2019s good for the team as a whole, it\u2019s good for each other individually.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we like earning our money.\u201d<\/p>\n
SICK BAY<\/p>\n
The Blue Jays were minus first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (back) and shortstop Andres Gimenez (wrist) on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Toronto also has a long list of injuries in the batting order, with outfielders Daulton Varsho (wrist) and Addison Barger (elbow) among those on the sidelines, but Schneider expects both Guerrero, who also sat out Saturday\u2019s game, and Gimenez to be available Tuesday in Boston.<\/p>\n
CLOCK MANAGEMENT<\/p>\n
Caballero had a long discussion with home plate umpire Steven Jaschinski about the pitch clock and getting set in the batter\u2019s box, leading to a warning for \u201cintentionally delaying\u201d the game.<\/p>\n
That left Miles to stew on the mound as the chatter and meeting of the minds around home plate eventually grew to include Yankees manager Aaron Boone.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt seems like every time it goes to 10 (seconds), he taps the plate, he looks at you like a fake look, and then looks back down,\u201d Miles said of Caballero. \u201cEvery time I see that, I\u2019m coming set, and then next thing you know, they\u2019re talking. There\u2019s no strike awarded to me, he wasn\u2019t kicked out of the game, and I didn\u2019t get a warm-up pitch.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was tough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schneider, who would be ejected later Sunday for arguing a balk call, said Caballero seems like the only player in the majors with pitch-clock issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cCould have been handled a lot quicker and a lot more efficiently,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s Major League Baseball and everyone knows the rules.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 14, 2026.<\/p>\n
Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 Brayden Fisher was in a familiar spot for the Blue Jays. Top of the ninth. A…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":737548,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194291],"tags":[49,48,82,3302],"class_list":["post-737547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-toronto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=737547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/737548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=737547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=737547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=737547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}