Yankees Reactions: McMahon, Rice Homer in Win over Toronto
New York improves to 30-19 in 2026
NEW YORK — Exhale once again. The Yankees held on to win against Toronto 5-4 and improve their season record to 30-19.
For the second day in a row, Toronto made it close in the bottom of the ninth, but ultimately have won back-to-back one run games.
Pitching Spotlight
Will Warren was not dominant tonight. He gave up three runs across five innings. That being said, he out dueled Dylan Cease, who was one of the league leaders in ERA coming into the outing.
Warren had a rough fourth inning, surrendering three runs, two of them with nobody out. Warren could have melted down against a team that he has not been good against in the past, but he held it down and was able to give the Yankees five strong innings, and earn the win.
Hitting Spotlight
Ben Rice continues to toucher baseballs. Rice now leads the Yankees with RBI’s with 33 and MLB with OPS at 1.068. His presence in the Yankees lineup is much needed, especially with Aaron Judge struggling by his standards this far in the season.
Rice has been impressive so far this season, even after slumping a bit as of late, he still is having clutch at-bats and getting big hits from the Yankees, and their lineup needs it.
Rice has become a mainstay in the Yankees lineup, and the true tandem to Judge, one he has not had since Juan Soto departed. The difference, Rice will be a Yankee for the rest of Judge’s prime.
Ryan McMahon also deserves some flowers. He came into the game with some good numbers against Dylan Cease, and showed us those good numbers today, getting the Yankees right back into the game with a huge three-run home run.
The Yankees could have laid down and died after falling behind 3-0 to Cease, who looked untouchable at times, but they didn’t and were able to come back against one of the better pitchers in baseball is impressive. And McMahon had two big hits tonight as he looks to earn at-bats with Caballero coming back and Volpe playing well.
Notable
Aaron Boone was ejected for the 2nd time in 2026 and 48th time in his career tonight. It came on the heals of two missed plays by second base umpire Brennan Miller, who Boone has a bad history with.
Anthony Volpe attempted to steal second base in the bottom of the fourth inning. He was called out. It looked like he was safe, but replay review did not overturn the call, which left the Yankees without a replay review and Boone mad.
Not having that replay came back to bite them as Jazz Chisholm Jr. lined a sinking liner to center where Dalton Varsho made the catch, according to Miller, though it looked like the ball touched the grass and the Yankees wanted to replay the call, but did not have a challenge. Between innings, Boone got his moneys worth in a fiery ejection.
What’s Next?
Tomorrow night’s game will be box office. The Yankees will send out AL Cy Young lead-contender Cam Schlittler to face the Jays, who touched him up in the regular season, but he shoved against them in the postseason. The Jays will send out young right-hander Trey Yesavage who carved the Yankees up in the ALDS. A battle of the Young Kids. First pitch will be at 7:05 on YES.