TORONTO — It’s going to be a wild final weekend as teams fight for the two AL wild-card spots.
The Yankees would be fine, though, if they weren’t involved in the drama.
They took another step toward the postseason on Thursday night, closing out a critical road trip with a 6-2 win over Toronto.
Four homers off AL Cy Young candidate Robbie Ray — and five overall — set the tone and reduced their magic number of clinching a wild-card berth to two, thanks to Boston’s loss to the Orioles, which also dropped the Red Sox into a tie with idle Seattle.
“That’s as tough a trip as you can face with everything on the line,’’ manager Aaron Boone said of sweeping the Red Sox and taking two of three at Rogers Centre. “To go 5-1 against two really good clubs … we’re just getting started. We’ve got more to do.”
The victory was sparked by Aaron Judge, who homered twice and was part of a sixth-inning eruption against the left-hander Ray.
Entering the sixth down by a run, the Yankees got a one-out solo shot from Anthony Rizzo to tie the game, 2-2.
Judge followed with his second laser home run to center, this one measured at 441 feet, to make it 3-2.
Toronto let Ray stay in the game, and he walked Giancarlo Stanton before Gleyber Torres continued his resurgence with a two-run homer to extend the lead. It was just the fourth hit by the Yankees off Ray — all homers.
So the Yankees return to The Bronx on Friday with a chance to seal their place in the postseason, with some help.
“We’ve still got a lot of work to do,” Judge said. “The job’s not finished. We want that home-field advantage [for the wild-card game].”
The win didn’t come without a price, as DJ LeMahieu, who led off the sixth with a comebacker, was removed from the game before the bottom of the inning with right hip soreness — an injury that has bothered him for weeks.
Judge, who entered with 20 RBIs in his previous 18 games, opened the scoring with a 455-foot blast to dead center with two outs in the top of the first. It was his longest homer of the season, according to Statcast.
And Judge saved a run while in right field in the bottom of the second to keep the game tied.
Bo Bichette, who tormented the Yankees all series, led off with a single to center. He stole second and then scored on a Corey Dickerson double to right.
After Alejandro Kirk grounded out, Santiago Espinal hit a soft fly ball to shallow right that nearly fell in for an RBI single.
But Judge, playing with a dislocated left pinky — and having fractured a rib on a similar play in 2019 — dove headfirst to make the catch for the third out and keep it 1-1.
The Yankees got enough pitching, as Corey Kluber gave up two runs in 4 ²/₃ innings.
In the fifth, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s run-scoring double off the top of the fence in center, inches away from a two-run homer, gave Toronto its first lead.
Kluber was replaced by Michael King to face Bichette. After a walk to Bichette, Teoscar Hernandez grounded out and the Yankees’ offense awoke in the sixth.
Ray retired 13 in a row before Rizzo tied the game with a homer and Judge followed with his second of the night to put them ahead.
After King threw 1 ¹/₃ shutout innings, Luis Severino tossed a scoreless seventh and Chad Green pitched around a leadoff double by Bichette in the eighth.
Brett Gardner’s homer in the ninth gave the Yankees a 6-2 lead and Aroldis Chapman finished it in the bottom of the inning.
“I think we’re all looking forward to bigger and better things,’’ Kluber said.
“With everyone coming on and how we’re playing, we’re ready,’’ Rizzo said. “We’re staring down the wild-card game. You win that, you build momentum and confidence. It’s a long way away, but we definitely have the arsenal.”
