New York Yankees' Carlos Beltran greeted by team mate Dick Gregorius after Beltran hit a three run home run against the Toronto Blue Jays during eighth inning AL baseball action in Toronto on Friday August 14, 2015.Fred Thornhill/The Canadian Press
For the first time since 1993, baseball playoff fever has gripped the city and Friday night at Rogers Centre the New York Yankees were looking to provide the antidote, at least temporarily.
The Toronto Blue Jays and the Yankees, separated by the slimmest of margins in the standing as they duke it out for supremacy in the American League East, were locking horns for the second time in a week.
A steamy Rogers Centre was packed to capacity with a crowd closing in on 47,000 on hand, galvanized as one and seeking a satisfying outcome.
It was not to be.
With New York tugging on the coattails of Toronto starter David Price from the first inning without success, the Yankees finally broke through, scoring four in the eighth to record a 4-3 punch-in-the gut victory over the Blue Jays.
The victory also brought to a halt an inspiring 11-game Toronto win streak.
Toronto made it close, getting runners at second and third with two out against New York closer Andrew Miller.
But he was able to strike out Troy Tulowitzki for the third out to finally put an end to the high-decibel hollering within the stadium.
Playing defence with typical panache and capitalizing on the few chances they had against a New York team that outhit them 13-6, the Blue Jays scored three in the third inning that they stubbornly clung to like a child's security blanket.
For a while it appeared it would be a workable cushion for David Price, who was pushed to the hilt by a determined Yankee crew.
The Yankees knocked the new team ace around for eight hits through the first seven innings without any payback.
That ended in the eighth where Mark Teixeira and then Brian McCann opened with back-to-back singles off Price.
Chase Headley then followed with a ground rule double that scored Teixeira to cut Toronto's lead to 4-1.
Price then gave way to Aaron Sanchez, who has been almost ironclad at the back end of the bullpen, but not on this night.
Sanchez gave up a three-run blast off the bat of pinch-hitter Carlos Beltran that moved New York in front 4-3, a lead it would not relinquish.
Sanchez was saddled with the loss, dropping his record to 6-5 as the Yankees leapfrogged over Toronto and into first place in the AL East by a half game.
It was just over a week ago that the Blue Jays rolled into New York to begin a three-game series against the Yankees on their home turf.
Toronto came into New York trailing the Yankees by 4 1/2 games for first place in the East. By the time the Blue Jays departed, after winning three straight, New York's lead was a slender 1 1/2 games.
Over the course of the week, Toronto kept winning and New York losing, and by the end of play Wednesday it was the Blue Jays who had assumed control of the division, by a hair.
John Gibbons, the Toronto manager, was asked before Friday's game if this series felt any different than last weekend's, going in as the hunter rather than the hunted. He said not really.
"It took a nice little streak just to get to this point," Gibbons said. "But still, what is it, a half-game? What is that? Nothing."
The New York series is completely sold out and Friday's game marked the fourth full house at Rogers Centre in the last nine home games where noisy crowds in excess of 40,000 have become the norm.
Kevin Pillar, the Blue Jays centre fielder, said performing in such an engaging atmosphere pumps the players' spirits.
"We're what, 115, 116 games in, we'd be lying to you, the guys in this room, if they didn't say they were tired or hurting," he said. "It's a long year. We've been at this since February.
"But to go out there, get that energy from the crowd is something we all look forward to doing. The body doesn't seem to hurt as much; you don't seem as tired. It brings out the best in you."
The muggy atmosphere within Rogers Centre was as oppressive as a pizza parlour during a heat wave with the roof remaining clamped shut because of inclement weather within the Toronto area.
The Yankees challenged Price through the first three innings totalling four hits, but were unable to break through. The Yankees had base runners in every inning but two.
Ivan Nova, the Yankee starter, cruised through the first two innings before the Toronto hitters finally caught up with him in the bottom of the third.
Tulowitzki hit into a fielder's choice to score the first run while a double into the leftfield corner by Jose Bautista brought the score to 2-0.
Edwin Encarnacion, after missing the previous four games nursing a sore left middle finger, then lifted a sacrifice fly to bring home the third Toronto run.