Yankees make four errors in blowout loss against Blue Jays

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Gary Sanchez made two of his team’s season-high four errors and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the sloppy Yankees 14-1 Wednesday night, dealing New York perhaps a fatal blow in its race for home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

Danny Jansen homered twice, once off No. 3 catcher Erik Kratz in the eighth, as the Blue Jays reduced their magic number to one for clinching a wild card berth and their first postseason appearance since 2016.

Tampa Bay clinched its first AL East title since 2010 when it beat the New York Mets 8-5 and opened a 4 1/2-game lead. The Yankees, who have four games left, were in danger of falling 21⁄

2 games behind Minnesota for the No. 4 seed and a home-field berth next week.

Shortstop Gleyber Torres and first baseman Luke Voit also made errors for the Yankees, who went 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position, a night after going 8 for 18 in a 12-1 win.

Masahiro Tanaka (3-3) allowed five runs — three earned — and eight hits in four innings. New York dropped to 2-4 against the Blue Jays in Buffalo this season.

Sanchez made an errant pickoff throw in the first, allowing Teoscar Hernandez to score from third and giving Toronto a 2-0 lead.

RAYS 8, METS 5

NEW YORK — Randy Arozarena homered twice and the Tampa Bay Rays clinched their first AL East title in 10 years.

Joey Wendle and Brandon Lowe also went deep for the Rays to back Tyler Glasnow’s six solid innings. Tampa Bay will be home at quirky Tropicana Field for a best-of-three first-round playoff series beginning Tuesday.

It is the third division crown for the thrifty Rays, who also won the AL East in 2008 and ’10. Their inaugural season was 1998.

After missing a chance to clinch Tuesday, the Rays went into Wednesday again needing just a win or a New York Yankees loss against Toronto to lock up the division championship.

The Rays (37-20) broke a 2-all tie in the sixth on Arozarena’s two-run homer off Michael Wacha and pulled away, taking care of business themselves.

RED SOX 9, ORIOLES 1

BOSTON — Nathan Eovaldi struck out eight over six scoreless innings, Rafael Devers hit a three-run double that capped a six-run third and the Boston Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles in a matchup of the AL East’s worst teams.

Kevin Plawecki had three hits and drove in two runs for the Red Sox, who won their third straight in their bid to escape last place.

Austin Hays hit a solo homer and had three hits for Baltimore, which has lost six of seven. The Orioles are one game ahead of the Red Sox.