NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Up five runs, the Toronto Blue Jays were headed to a three-game sweep of the New York Yankees and their first trip to the AL Championship Series in nine years.<\/p>\n
And then it slipped out of their gloves.<\/p>\n
A pair of errors by Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Addison Barger revived the Yankees, who then rode home runs by Aaron Judge and Jazz Chisholm Jr. off Louis Varland to a 9-6 victory Tuesday night<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cSloppy brand of baseball,\u201d Kiner-Falefa said.<\/p>\n Instead of preparing to host Seattle or Detroit at Rogers Centre this weekend, the Blue Jays\u2019 lead in the best-of-five series was cut to 2-1 heading into Game 4 at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re talking about giving a really good team extra outs.\u201d Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. \u201cWalks and errors will kill you against this team.\u201d<\/p>\n Varland gave up a homer to Judge while making his major league debut for Minnesota on Sept. 7, 2022. This one was a three-run drive that tied the score 6-6 in the fourth. <\/p>\n Judge\u2019s homer was the first on a 99 mph or faster pitch 1.2 feet inside from the center of the strike zone since pitch tracking started in 2008, according to MLB Statcast.<\/p>\n \u201cHe made a really good pitch look really bad,\u201d said Varland, who will start Game 4 as an opener.<\/p>\n Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a two-run, first-inning homer off Carlos Rod\u00f3n and is batting .693 (8 for 13) with three homers and eight RBIs in the series. The Blue Jays lost after leading by five runs for the first time since Sept. 3, 2024, against Philadelphia, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.<\/p>\n \u201cFlush it tonight. That\u2019s all you can do, and bounce back tomorrow and come out and win a series,\u201d said Toronto starter Shane Bieber, who lasted just 2 2\/3 innings.<\/p>\n Kiner-Falefa, a 2020 Gold Glove winner at third, allowed Ben Rice\u2019s two-out grounder in the bottom of the first to kick off the heel of his glove. The ball bounced off his chest and fell to the dirt, and Kiner-Falefa inadvertently kicked it as Rice reached. Giancarlo Stanton followed with an RBI single that cut the lead in half.<\/p>\n \u201cBig error by me right there,\u201d Kiner-Falefa said. \u201cIt just took a high hop. I was expecting a lower-hit ball. I felt like I did a good job knocking it down, just wasn\u2019t able to stop the spin on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n With the Blue Jays ahead 6-3 in the fourth, one out and no one on, Austin Wells lofted a pop to left. Third baseman Barger, who had entered as a pinch hitter in the third, settled under the ball in short left only for the wind to blow the ball toward the seats. The ball hit off his glove and bounced into foul territory as Wells reached second.<\/p>\n \u201cThe wind was kind of weird all night. You could see early on that it was kind of swirling up top,\u201d Barger said. \u201cI thought I was camped under it.\u201d<\/p>\n