BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Hyun-Jin Ryu pitched seven shutout innings and the Toronto Blue Jays clinched their first postseason spot since 2016, beating the Yankees 4-1 Thursday night and further damaging New York's chances of hosting a first-round playoff series.
New York lost for the fourth time in five games and remained two games behind the slumping White Sox for the fourth seed. Chicago lost 5-4 at Cleveland, its fifth straight defeat.
Toronto secured at least an AL wild-card spot and ensured its eighth trip overall to the postseason. The Blue Jays had endured three losing campaigns since their previous playoff trip, going 67-95 last season.
"I'm just so proud of my club and everything we've gone through all year,'' second-year manager Charlie Montoyo said.
Canada's federal government refused to allow games at Toronto's Rogers Centre this season, citing the closed Canada-U.S. border and the travel risk associated with the pandemic. Stuck on the road to start the season, the Blue Jays eventually ended up at their Triple-A ballpark, Sahlen Field in Buffalo, but didn't gripe about their fate.
"They never complained,'' Montoyo said. "They had their mind set on getting to this moment right now.''
Blue Jays players embraced after Rafael Dolis struck out Aaron Hicks to end it, donning blue T-shirts that said "Respect Toronto.''
"This is something we want to make an every-year thing,'' infielder Cavan Biggio said. "For us, we're happy, we're excited we're able to put ourselves in this position, but this is only the start of hopefully something special for a long time."
The Blue Jays trail the Yankees by two games for second place in the AL East. Both teams have three games remaining. Toronto hosts Baltimore in Buffalo while the Yankees host the Marlins.
New York failed to hit a homer for the fourth straight game, matching its longest drought since June 2016. It's the first time the Yankees have failed to homer in a four-game series since doing so at Texas in July 2013.
New York loaded the bases with two outs in the eighth, but pinch-hitter Gary Sanchez flied out to deep center, where Randal Grichuk made a leaping catch at the wall.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. homered for Toronto.
Ryu (5-2) scattered five hits, walked two and struck out four. Luke Voit and Hicks hit back-to-back singles to begin the sixth but Ryu struck out Giancarlo Stanton, got Gleyber Torres to fly out and retired Gio Urshela on a ground ball.
Dolis got four outs for his fifth save in six chances.
Ryu became the first Blue Jays starting pitcher since Aug. 22, 2019, to pitch into the seventh, pitching around Clint Frazier's leadoff single by setting down the next three, including pinch hitter Aaron Judge. The left-hander lowered his ERA from 3.00 to 2.69.
The Blue Jays finished 5-5 in their 10-game regular season series against the Yankees.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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