Paul Goldschmidt hits tiebreaking HR in ninth, Yankees beat Blue Jays 3-1 for fifth win in last 6 games

TORONTO — Paul Goldschmidt hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the ninth inning to give the Yankees a 3-1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday.

After Cody Bellinger singled to open the ninth against Blue Jays closer Louis Varland, Goldschmidt jumped on a hanging knuckle curve and hit a 400-foot drive to left for his ninth home run.

Varland (3-2) had allowed only two earned runs this season before Saturday and hadn’t given up a home run in 36 2⁄3 innings.

Fernando Cruz (4-1) got out of a bases-loaded jam in the eighth and David Bednar struck out the side in the ninth for his 14th save in 16 chances as the Yankees won for the fifth time in six games.

Yankees righthander Cam Schlittler allowed one run and six hits in seven innings. He walked a season-high four and struck out seven.

Toronto’s Kevin Gausman allowed one hit — a tying home run by Jasson Dominguez in the fourth — and one run in seven innings. He walked two and struck out seven.

Dominguez was added to the roster before the game to replace injured outfielder Trent Grisham, who went on the 10-day injured list with a right hamstring strain.

Kazuma Okamoto opened the scoring with a two-out homer off Schlittler in the third, his 15th of the season and second in two games.

With runners at second and third and one out in the bottom of the fourth, second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. dived to his right to make a spectacular catch of Charles McAdoo’s line drive. Schlittler then struck out Andres Gimenez to escape the jam.

The Yankees had runners at the corners with two outs in the eighth, but Tyler Rogers got Dominguez to ground out.

Cruz replaced Schlittler and walked the bases loaded in the bottom of the inning but escaped by getting Charles McAdoo to foul out to first.

Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was held out of the starting lineup because of a sore back.