Greg Bird's 10th inning home run lifts Yankees to 6-4 win over Blue Jays

SCORE AND SITUATION

TORONTO – Know this: these New York Yankees will not go quietly.

Yankees rookie Greg Bird hit a three-run home run in the top of the 10th inning to lift New York to a 6-4 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday night.

Bird's blast off Blue Jays reliever Mark Lowe came after Brian McCann led off the inning with a bunt single and Slade Heathcott reached on catcher's interference.

It was the biggest hit in a wild game that showed that the race for the AL East title will be decided in the final days of the season.

After being shutout by David Price for the first seven innings of Monday night's game, the Yankees sent seven batters to the plate and put through two runs in the top of the first inning off Blue Jays starter Marco Estrada.

Kevin Pillar cut New York's lead to 2-1 with a solo home run in the third. The Blue Jays tied the game in the fourth thanks to a two-out RBI single by Justin Smoak that scored Josh Donaldson from second.

Estrada settled down after the two-run first, pitching five consecutive scoreless innings, before leaving the game with two outs and runners at first and second in the seventh. Aaron Loup came in and gave up a single to Brett Gardner to load the bases, but then Liam Hendriks struck out Alex Rodriguez on three pitches to keep the game tied 2-2.

Yankees starter Luis Severino went six innings, allowing two runs on three hits and three walks.

Hendriks stayed in the game in the eighth, and gave up the solo shot to Carlos Beltran with one out that gave the Yankees a 3-2 lead.

The Blue Jays stranded the bases loaded in the eighth against Dellin Betances, but they weren't dead yet. Dioner Navarro responded with a dramatic game-tying home run down the left field line off Andrew Miller to force extras.

Down 6-3 in the bottom of the 10th following Bird's blast, Edwin Encarnacion added a consolation run for Toronto with a deep drive that cleared the wall in left.

LEADING LADS

• Greg Bird has stepped up big time playing in place of the injured Mark Teixeira. Tuesday’s game-winning shot was the rookie first baseman's 10th homer of the season, in just his 34rd career big-league game.

• Jacoby Ellsbury led the charge at the top of the Yankees' order, coming up with two doubles, a walk, and a run scored.

• Kevin Pillar had a monster night at the plate. He had a homer, reached base four times, and stole two bases.

• Jose Bautista showed off his arm in right field on a couple occasions. In the seventh, Bautista threw a dart to Josh Donaldson as Dustin Ackley attempted to go from first to third on a single by Didi Gregorius. The initial call on the field was that Ackley beat the throw. However, replays showed Donaldson applied the tag before Ackley touched the base, and the ruling was rightly overturned. Then, in the ninth, Bautista gunned out Chris Young at home after Young tried to tag up and score on a fly ball to right field.

HEAD HANGERS

• Mark Lowe and Liam Hendriks both gave up home runs in relief that put the Yankees in front.

• Edwin Encarnacion – who did homer in the 10th – and Josh Donaldson had bases-loaded strikeouts. Encarnacion swung at an offspeed pitch from Dellin Betances that was well out of the zone to end the eighth, while Donaldson went down swinging with two outs in the ninth.

• For the second straight night, Alex Rodriguez struck out with the bases loaded, but this time his team came away with a victory.

• Aaron Sanchez didn't pitch Tuesday, but he was informed that he would no longer be used as the team's primary setup man. Gibbons told reporters before the game that Mark Lowe and Brett Cecil will likely see more time in the eighth inning. Sanchez, 23, has failed to record an out in his last two appearances, and has a given up a run in four of his last five.

SUPER STAT

WHAT THEY'LL BE TALKING ABOUT

• What. A. Ballgame. A go-ahead home run in the top of the eighth, followed by a game-tying shot in the bottom of the ninth, and then a three-run blast in the top of the 10th? That’s straight from a Hollywood script.

• Can you feel the heat? Toronto’s lead in the AL East is down to 2 ½ games, and the Yankees could wittle it to 1 ½ games with a win Wednesday.

WHAT'S NEXT?

The pitching matchup for Wednesday's rubber match is Yankees right-hander Ivan Nova (6-8, 5.11 ERA) against Blue Jays right-hander Marcus Stroman (2-0, 3.00 ERA). It is the final regular season meeting between the two teams.

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Israel Fehr is a writer for Yahoo Canada Sports. Email him at israelfehr@yahoo.ca or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr