Rough 6th inning costs Yankees in 5-1 loss to Blue Jays

Clarke Schmidt had one of his best outings of the season but mistakes in the sixth inning turned the tide in what became a 5-1 Yankees loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday afternoon.

Schmidt pitched 5.2 innings and struck out a career-high eight batters, but it was the costly inning that ruined the afternoon for the Yankee starter. Back-to-back home runs by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. — a two-run shot — and Daulton Varsho broke a scoreless tie in the sixth and ended Schmidt’s day.

Reliever Michael King gave up an RBI double to Danny Jansen in the top of the seventh inning to left field making it a 4-0 Blue Jay game and Jansen drove in the fifth run when he grounded into a force-out at third in the top of the ninth. Anthony Rizzo hit his fifth home run in the bottom of the ninth to break the shutout.

Schmidt had been going strong until he reached the sixth inning. The Yankees starter retired 19 straight batters before finally allowing a hit in the top of the fifth to Matt Chapman.

The righty struck out six of the first eight batters that he faced on Sunday and set a new career-high in innings pitched.

But the Blue Jays offense finally broke through in the sixth when Guerrero Jr. took an 0-1 pitch 368 feet into left field for the two-run blast. Varsho followed it up with a solo blast to right field for his second homer run of the season.

The Yankees had six hits in the loss, but their offense didn’t show up for most of the game. Eight straight Yankee batters went down to start the game and New York didn’t have a runner in scoring position until a double in the bottom of the firth by DJ LeMahieu.

The next three batters for the Bombers all struck out to end the threat.

The Yankees bats didn’t start connecting again until the bottom of the ninth when Rizzo hit the home run and Gleyber Torres and LeMahieu both got hits to reach base. Oswaldo Cabrera flew out to third to end the game.

The defeat on Sunday marked the first time the Yankees have lost a series this season. The Yankees split a four-game set with the Minnesota Twins earlier this month, which was the only time the Bronx Bombers had not won a series so far this year.

The loss ended a 10-game homestand for the Yankees, who will now play the next seven games on the road beginning Monday in Minnesota.