Chapman's homer helps Blue Jays snap Yankees' 11-game winning streak

Primariliy known for his stellar offensive skills, Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr., showed Wednesday night that his defensive game is on point too.

With the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the ninth, third baseman Matt Chapman had to back up to gather a chopper from Isiah Kiner-Fanela and was forced to rush the throw to Guerrero.

The Toronto first baseman stretched and one-hopped the ball as it skidded off the turf, celebrating the out with a couple of emphatic fist pumps while seated in the dirt.

"I was very mad at myself and then very excited," Chapman said.

Starter Yusei Kikuchi threw a season-high six innings for his first win as a Blue Jay and Jordan Romano earned his MLB-best 12th save to help Toronto salvage the finale of the three-game series.

"When you're not hitting and there's no room for error, you've just got to make a lot of plays," said Toronto manager Charlie Montoyo.

Joey Gallo hit a solo shot for New York's lone run. It was the Yankees' second loss in their last 15 games.

Toronto trims Yankees' divisional lead

New York, which leads the major leagues at 18-7, had its divisional lead on the second-place Blue Jays trimmed to 2 1/2 games.

The Blue Jays (16-10) have won 10 of their last 15 games and earned their 10th one-run victory of the season.

"They're really good," said Yankees manager Aaron Boone. "They obviously have a lot of good position players and they can pitch too."

Chapman opened the scoring with his fifth home run of the season. The blast to straightaway centre field came off left-hander Nestor Cortes (1-1).

Gallo answered with a solo shot off Kikuchi (1-1) in the third inning for his third homer of the year.

Kikuchi allowed three hits and a walk with seven strikeouts in his first quality start of the year. He induced a season-high 15 swing and misses.

"He's got good stuff," Montoyo said. "If he throws strikes, he's going to get people out."

Yimi Garcia worked a perfect eighth inning, fanning slugger Aaron Judge for the third out. Boone was ejected before the strikeout was completed, apparently for arguing balls and strikes.

"I was pretty mad out there," Boone said. "Hopefully not a suspension or anything. I kept it in control somewhat."

Romano, from Markham, Ont., gave up a pair of hits and issued a two-out walk to Gallo to load the bases. The Yankees challenged the call on the third out but the decision was upheld.

Announced attendance at Rogers Centre was 29,057 and the game took two hours 42 minutes to play.