Wild card hunt

Yankees’ 7-5 victory over Jays includes ejections, brawl

TORONTO — The New York Yankees rallied with five runs in the ninth inning and then hung on to avoid a four-game sweep as they beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 7-5, on Monday on an wild evening that saw three hit batsmen, four ejections and the benches empty twice.

For the second night in a row, the game turned in the late innings.

New York’s Mark Teixeira tied the game with a one-out solo homer deep to right field off Jason Grilli (7-6), who got the nod with closer Roberto Osuna needing rest. After Didi Gregorius singled, Aaron Hicks went deep to right for a 5-3 lead. Jacoby Ellsbury’s RBI single and Gary Sanchez’s sacrifice fly off Danny Barnes added to the Jays’ pain as the Yankees sent eight men to the plate.

New York had cut the lead to 3-2 in the eighth on Ellsbury’s RBI single.

Trailing 7-3, the Jays went to work in their half of the ninth.

Helped by two walks, an error and wild pitch, Toronto loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the ninth. And sixfoot-eight closer Dellin Betances almost made it four hit batsmen, just missing Darwin Barney with a 97 m.p.h. heater. With Tommy Layne taking over on the mound, Josh Donaldson flied out. Edwin Encarnacion then walked to bring in a run. Pinchhitter Dioner Navarro’s bloop to centre field made it 7-5. Barney was tagged out at the plate when Russell Martin grounded into a forceout.

Troy Tulowitzki, the last roll of a dice, was caught on a good catch in foul territory to end the game. Adam Warren (7-4) got the win and Layne the save, his first.

The bad blood started in the first inning when New York starter Luis Severino hit Donaldson on the elbow before a Rogers Centre sellout crowd of 44,532 with the roof closed. Then Toronto starter J.A. Happ took aim at Chase Headley, the first Yankee to go to the plate in the second. It took Happ two pitches to make contact with Headley — he just missed on the first attempt.

Both benches and bullpens emptied but there was no real venom. The umpires cleared the field and the game continued.

Severino then raised the stakes by hitting Justin Smoak on the leg to open the bottom of the second, prompting a rolling ball of angry players moving across the infield before order was restored.

Catchers Martin and Sanchez had to be separated and Jays reliever Joaquin Benoit limped off the field.

FRANK GUNN, THE CANADIAN PRESS Russell Martin trades words with New York catcher Gary Sanchez during a bench-clearing melee after Yankees pitcher Luis Severino hit Blue Jays’ Justin Smoak with a pitch in the second inning in Toronto on Monday night.