Yankees' DJ LeMahieu delivers walk-off single in 10th to beat Blue Jays 

John Schneider kept Aaron Judge from beating his team.

But the Blue Jays’ manager couldn’t do anything about DJ LeMahieu.

LeMahieu’s walk-off single in the 10th inning gave the Yankees a 4-3 victory Sunday in front of a crowd of 44,237 at the Stadium, many of whom left during a 1-hour, 49-minute rain delay after the top of the eighth inning.

“Just totally deserving,” Gerrit Cole said shortly after the clubhouse engaged in a raucous celebration for LeMahieu, a super-popular veteran who has struggled most of the season but who enjoyed his second big moment of the week after hitting a grand slam and driving in all six runs in Wednesday’s victory over the Phillies. “He had a really good day at the plate before the last at-bat. Was putting good swings on it and not getting rewarded. It’s nice to see guys like that come through in the clutch for us and win a game, especially a guy like DJ.”

The Yankees (67-46), who took a 3-2 lead in the seventh on Juan Soto’s 28th homer — a drive that hit the top of the left-centerfield wall and landed in the Blue Jays’ bullpen — have won seven of their last eight games.

Neither manager Aaron Boone nor hitting coach James Rowson was around to see the ending, as both were ejected by plate umpire Tripp Gibson after Austin Wells took a borderline called third strike for the first out of the seventh.

“Probably a couple of days where I didn’t think went our way behind the plate,” Boone, ejected for the sixth time this season, said of what prompted his outburst, which was relatively mild compared with some of his past tantrums. “I thought that first inning Judge [should have] walked. I don’t think they threw him a strike, so I was going a little bit early at Tripp.”

Anthony Volpe, the designated runner on second to begin the 10th, went to third on Trent Grisham’s sacrifice bunt against righthander Bowden Francis. With Toronto employing a five-man infield, LeMahieu sent a 1-and-1 slider back up the middle to win it.

“I think it was more relief than anything,” LeMahieu said. “Our guys came out with energy after that rain delay, more energy than I think we had the first part of the game. That’s a big testament to our guys being locked in.”

Mark Leiter Jr., one of two relievers acquired before last Tuesday’s trade deadline, pitched a scoreless 10th after coming on for Enyel de los Santos, the other new reliever, with two outs in the ninth. With Joey Loperfido at second, Leiter got Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to fly softly to center and struck out pinch hitter George Springer. Leiter hit Daulton Varsho but struck out Yankees-killer Alejandro Kirk swinging at a splitter to strand two.

“A big reason why we got him was that pitch,” Boone said of Leiter’s splitter.

Cole, scratched from Tuesday’s start in Philadelphia because of what the team called “general body fatigue,” was OK against the Blue Jays. He allowed two runs and six hits in 5 2⁄3 innings, striking out four.

“Certainly I’m in a better spot physically than I was the other day,” Cole said. “It was definitely beneficial to have a few extra days for sure.”

Down 2-0 entering the sixth, the Yankees scored twice on Grisham’s RBI groundout and LeMahieu’s sacrifice fly after Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Volpe started the inning with back-to-back singles and executed a double steal.

After Soto put the Yankees ahead in the seventh, Grisham — who seemed to feel the presence of the 6-7, 282-pound Judge behind him — dropped Loperfido’s routine fly to left-center for a two-base error. Two one-out walks loaded the bases and the Blue Jays tied it on Kirk’s 382-foot sacrifice fly, which fell just short of being a grand slam.

Judge was intentionally walked in his final three plate appearances (he struck out in the first and singled in the third.

“It sucks,” Soto said of the intentional walks. “Just because you want him at the plate. I’m doing my best to get him up, and to see them pass him over, it makes me mad. I don’t like that. I want them to challenge him and see what he can really do. But it’s part of the game. They’re trying to win, too, so you respect that.”