Spencer Jones' two-run blast was the difference as the Yankees started their three-game series against the Blue Jays with a 3-1 win on Friday night in the Bronx.

New York has won five in a row and, after the Rays' loss to the Orioles earlier in the evening, are now 3.0 games behind Tampa Bay for first place in the AL East.

Here are the takeaways...

-Toronto made Cam Schlittler work in the first, picking up two hits and a walk, but a double play and some nifty scoops by Paul Goldschmidt at first saved the Yankees and their ace a run.

Schlittler didn't have his best stuff. His command was iffy -- he walked three batters -- and the Jays hitters were picking up hit after hit. The fourth inning saw Toronto start with back-to-back singles. A groundout moved up the two runners, but Schlittler got out of the jam again with a strikeout and a flyball. He couldn't do the same in the fifth. A leadoff double came home on a one-out single by Alejandro Kirk to put the Jays on the board.

The AL Cy Young front-runner finished strong, pitching a 1-2-3 sixth inning to pick up another quality start.

He tossed 96 pitches, allowing one run on six hits and three walks while striking out four.

-In a moment reminiscent of the team's trip to Baltimore, Jones hit a towering fly ball toward the right field foul pole in the second inning. Unlike Pete Alonso's blast, it was called fair and the call stood after a chief review. The blast gave the Yankees a 2-0 lead. On the defensive side, the young outfielder almost made an outstanding sliding grab in the seventh, but the ball popped out of his glove as he hit the ground. Brent Headrick worked around that triple by blanking the Jays in the inning.

Jones finished 1-for-3.

The Yankees bullpen of Headrick, Paul Blackburn and David Bednar kept the Jays off the board, working around baserunners to finish the win.

-The offense wouldn't muster much else. A sac fly by Jose Caballero in the fourth accounted for the only other Yankees run. Toronto outhit the Yankees, 9-4, with New York going 1-for-8 with RISP and left six on base. The Blue Jays were worse, going 1-for-14 with RISP and leaving nine on base.

Game MVP: Spencer Jones

The pitching was great again, but the two-run blast was the difference.

Here are the takeaways...

Game MVP: Spencer Jones

Highlights

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