TORONTO – After celebrating the 30th anniversary of their 1985 AL East championship team, the Toronto Blue Jays picked up a big victory to bolster their chances of a crown this season.
Jose Bautista hit a two-run homer, Drew Hutchison won his third consecutive start and the Blue Jays beat New York 3-1 on Sunday.
Before the game, the Blue Jays welcomed back 10 former players and coaches from the 1985 squad, which claimed Toronto's first AL East title by two games over the Yankees. Outfielders George Bell, Lloyd Moseby and Jesse Barfield threw out ceremonial first pitches to current outfielders Ben Revere, Kevin Pillar and Bautista.
"It's awesome seeing how they can come back and enjoy those victories," Bautista said. "Hopefully we can create some memories like that for us to enjoy later on. I'm hoping 2015 will be one to remember."
The Blue Jays and the division-leading Yankees, separated by a half-game atop the AL East, will meet seven more times before the end of the season. Toronto swept a three-game series at Yankee Stadium last weekend.
Yankees outfielder Carlos Beltran had delivered big homers in the first two games of the series. In the finale, however, he helped sparked a Toronto burst in the third inning after losing Troy Tulo- witzki's fly ball to right field in the sun.
"I lost it when it was getting close to me and I basically couldn't do anything," Beltran said. "Unfortunately, it would have been a different story if I had caught that ball."
Initially ruled an error, Tulowitzki was later credited with a two-out double. Josh Donaldson followed with an RBI single and Bautista piled on with his 28th home run for a 3-0 lead.
