LeMahieu lifts Yankees over Blue Jays after Manoah fires 7 scoreless innings

Gerrit Cole and Alek Manaoh pitched scoreless ball after a chirpy buildup, and the New York Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays 3-2 Saturday on pinch-hitter DJ LeMahieu's walkoff bases-loaded single in the ninth inning.

Rookie Anthony Volpe hit a two-run homer in the eighth off Yimi Garcia and pinch-hitter Danny Jansen hit a two-run homer in the ninth against Wandy Peralta after a leadoff walk to Alejandro Kirk. Anthony Rizzo doubled off Jordan Romano (2-1) leading off the bottom half.

Even before the first pitch there was intrigue. Just as Cole was about to start the game, he was forced to wait, crouching behind the mound as Manoah and Kirk slowly walked from the Blue Jays bullpen down the left-field line to the dugout.

Cole allowed four hits in 5 2/3 innings with four strikeouts and two walks, extending his scoreless streak to 20 2/3 innings and lowering his earned-run average to 0.79.

Manoah gave up two hits in seven innings with five strikeouts and one walk, dropping his ERA from 6.98 to 5.13.

Last Aug. 21, Manoah threw an inside pitch early in the game that went near Yankees star Aaron Judge, then hit Judge on the arm guard above the left elbow. Judge glanced at Manoah as Cole started yelling and a few other Yankees came over the dugout railing. Cole was intercepted by bench coach Carlos Mendoza before reaching the umpires.

"I think if Gerrit wants to do something, he can walk past the Audi sign next time," Manoah said, referring to the advertisement stenciled on the grass between the Yankees dugout and first-base line.

Asked in November on NBA player Serge Ibaka's YouTube show "How Hungry Are You?" "who is the worst cheater in baseball history, Manaoh responded: "Gerrit Cole. He cheated. He used a lot of sticky