New York’s Aaron Judge is congratulated after his two-run home run against the Toronto Blue Jays during the eighth inning Tuesday night in Toronto. Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP

TORONTO — Aaron Judge’s tie-breaking, two-run homer broke a large Maple Leaf attached to the front of the Rogers Centre’s restaurant, lifting the New York Yankees to a contentious 6-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday night after pitcher Domingo Germán was ejected for sticky stuff.

Judge was booed while striking out in his first two at-bats following allegations of sign stealing Monday, when he hit a pair of solo homers in a 7-4 win. The second, a 462-foot drive in the eighth inning off Jay Jackson, came after Judge glanced into the Yankees dugout. Toronto’s broadcasters speculated he was looking for some kind of signal, and Toronto Manager John Schneider called Judge’s look “kind of odd.”

With the score 3-3 in the eighth inning Tuesday, Judge stared straight ahead at Erik Swanson (2-2), eyes never moving. His 448-foot drive to center chipped a corner of a white Maple Leaf between “WESTJET” and “FLIGHTDECK” below the windows of a redesigned social area that opened this year as part of the ballpark’s renovation.

Judge has five homers in his last four games, raising his season total to 11.

After Judge struck out in the third inning, there was a brief shouting match between Blue Jays pitching coach Pete Walker and Yankees third base coach Luis Rojas. Walker went to the outfield end of the dugout, yelling and gesturing at Rojas, a former Mets manager.

Blue Jays star Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was removed from the game after eight innings. He appeared to hurt a leg while fielding Gleyber Torres’ popped bunt in the top half.

Advertisement

Germán was ejected after he walked to the mound to start the bottom of the fourth and umpires checked his hands for banned sticky stuff. His ejection, likely to trigger a 10-game suspension, was the fourth since Major League Baseball started its crackdown on prohibited grip aids two years ago and the second this season.

Germán retired his first nine batters when his hands were examined by first base umpire D.J. Reyburn as the pitcher headed to the mound for the bottom of the fourth. Other umpires came over along with Yankees Manager Aaron Boone, and Germán was ejected by crew chief James Hoye, who was working the plate.

Hoye’s crew examined the 30-year-old right-hander during an April 15 start against Minnesota, when Germán retired his first 16 batters, but allowed him to stay in that game. Hoye had asked Germán to wash rosin off his hand and some had remained on the pitcher’s pinkie finger.

ORIOLES 7, ANGELS 3: Ryan Mountcastle homered and doubled after entering the game as a pinch hitter, and Baltimore beat visiting Los Angeles.

Dean Kremer (5-1) rebounded after allowing a homer to lead off the game, winning his third straight start, and Ryan O’Hearn also homered for Baltimore. O’Hearn started as the Orioles’ designated hitter in the No. 9 spot in the batting order, but after his solo shot in the second tied the game at 1, Mountcastle pinch hit for him after the Angels lifted right-hander Chase Silseth (0-1) in the fourth and replaced him with lefty Tucker Davidson.

Mountcastle greeted Davidson with a double that left men on second and third, and Cedric Mullins followed with an RBI grounder that made it 4-1 and capped Baltimore’s three-run inning.

Advertisement

WHITE SOX 8, GUARDIANS 3: Luis Robert Jr. homered for the fourth straight game, Gavin Sheets and Jake Burger went deep off Shane Bieber in a six-run fifth inning as Chicago beat visiting Cleveland.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

MARLINS 5, NATIONALS 4: Jorge Soler hit a two-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning and Miami rallied to beat visiting Washington.

The Marlins were down to their last out when Garrett Cooper doubled off Nationals reliever Hunter Harvey (2-1). Luis Arraez singled to score Cooper and pull Miami within 4-3. Pinch-runner Jon Berti stole second before Soler drove a 3-2 pitch by Harvey over the wall in left-center for his 10th homer and the come-from-behind win.

BREWERS 3, CARDINALS 2: Nolan Arenado homered for the fifth straight game St. Louis, which lost to visiting Milwaukee, which got homers from  Joey Wiemer and Brian Anderson.

Milwaukee starter Wade Miley came out with a left lat strain in the second inning after throwing 22 pitches. Miley pitched in just nine games last season when he was with the Chicago Cubs and endured shoulder and elbow injuries.

Advertisement

REDS 3, ROCKIES 1: Nick Senzel hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the seventh inning, helping Cincinnati win at Denver.

INTERLEAGUE

TIGERS 4, PIRATES 0: Michael Lorenzen had a season-high seven strikeouts in six innings, Spencer Torkelson doubled twice and Detroit  beat visiting Pittsburgh.

Lorenzen (2-2) gave up five hits and two walks and has allowed just two runs in his last three starts. Will Vest worked two scoreless innings, with three strikeouts, and Jose Cisnero pitched the ninth.

Torkelson scored and knocked in another run. Riley Greene had three hits.

Shut out for the second time in three games, Pittsburgh has lost 12 of 14 games while scoring just 22 runs.

Advertisement

RAYS 8, METS 5: Isaac Paredes homered twice and drove in five runs, ruining Justin Verlander’s home debut for New York.

Jose Siri also went deep and Harold Ramírez had two RBI singles among his three hits for the Rays, who improved the best record in baseball to 32-11. Yonny Chirinos (2-1) got 14 outs in relief after opener Jalen Beeks tossed two scoreless innings.

New York trailed 6-0 before Brett Baty homered and Pete Alonso launched a two-run shot. Pinch-hitter Eduardo Escobar connected for a two-run homer in the ninth off Jake Diekman.

The 40-year-old Verlander (1-2) served up both long balls to Paredes and was tagged for six runs on eight hits over five innings in his third start for the staggering Mets.

ASTROS 7, CUBS 3: Yordan Alvarez had two hits and drove in two runs and Chas McCormick added two hits in Houston’s home win.

Justin Steele (6-1) hadn’t given up more than three runs in a game this season before the Astros jumped on him for four runs in the fourth inning for a 5-1 lead.

Advertisement

The Astros had four of their season-high six doubles in that inning en route to their third consecutive victory.

RANGERS 7, BRAVES 4: Adolis García extended his MLB-leading RBI total to 44 with a two-run homer, Dane Dunning was solid again while filling the rotation spot of injured ace Jacob deGrom and Texas beat visiting Atlanta.

Dunning (4-0) allowed one run over six innings in his third start since deGrom went on the injured list April 29 because of elbow inflammation. The right-hander has won two of those games, and his other two wins came in games when he took over after deGrom exited early because of injury concerns.

NOTES

GUARDIANS: The Cleveland Guardians placed All-Star third baseman José Ramírez on the bereavement list and recalled hot-hitting infielder Brayan Rocchio from Triple-A Columbus.

It’s not yet known how long the defending AL Central champions will be without Ramírez, who is batting .285 with four homers and 22 RBI.

Advertisement

Josh Naylor will take Ramírez’s No. 3 spot in the lineup while Gabriel Arias will start at third in the series opener. This will be Rocchio’s second stint with Cleveland. However, the 22-year-old didn’t make his major league debut when he was brought up in April.

Rocchio was batting .338 at Columbus with one homer, 21 RBI and 20 steals. He’s hit safely in 16 straight games.

MARLINS: Center fielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. was put on the 10-day injured list because of a right toe turf injury.

A first-year outfielder, Chisholm collided with the center-field wall while attempting to catch a drive hit by Henry Ramos in Miami’s 6-5 loss against Cincinnati on Saturday. Chisholm remained down on the warning track for a couple of minutes before he reached his feet and limped off the field.

BREWERS: The Milwaukee Brewers designated reliever Gus Varland for assignment, one day after the rookie right-hander allowed nine runs in two-thirds of an inning in an 18-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.

Varland had joined the Brewers as a winter meeting draft pick from the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Advertisement

If Varland clears waivers, the Brewers would have to offer him back to the Dodgers for $50,000. The Brewers could assign Varland outright to the minors only if the Dodgers don’t want to reacquire him.

RETIREMENT: Right-hander Aníbal Sánchez, an 11-game winner for the Washington Nationals when they won the 2019 World Series, is retiring after 16 years in the majors. He pitched for the Portland Sea Dogs in 2005.

The 39-year-old Venezuelan posted a retirement message on Instagram after going unsigned the first six weeks of the season.

Sánchez went 116-119 with a 4.06 ERA in 364 appearances, 341 as a starter. He spent his first seven years with Miami, going 44-45, then had a 46-49 record in six seasons with Detroit. He was 19-19 with the Nationals.

Sánchez spent his final three seasons with Washington, missing 2021 because of a cervical nerve impingement and going nearly two years between victories. He didn’t pitch until July last year, finishing 4-6 with a 4.28 ERA in 14 starts.

RANGERS: Pitching prospect Kumar Rocker, a top-10 pick in each of the past two MLB drafts, has a torn ligament in his right elbow and will need Tommy John surgery.

Rangers GM Chris Young said Rocker had an MRI after his start last week at Class A Hickory. The surgery will probably be later this week.

Rocker was the third overall pick by the Rangers last summer, when the right-hander was drafted again a year after concerns over a physical led to the former Vanderbilt standout going unsigned by the New York Mets as the 10th overall pick.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.