Old school baseball carries Blue Jays to top of AL East: 'I think we have a team identity'

The Toronto Blue Jays made a strong case for old school baseball in their series win over the long ball-loving New York Yankees.

Bo Bichette's two-run homer capped off a wild victory as Toronto held on for an 8-4 win over the visiting Yankees on Wednesday. The Blue Jays' other six runs came from smart baserunning, heads-up plays, and forcing New York into a handful of errors.

"Geez, we can score runs in so many different ways," said infielder Ernie Clement, who went 2-for-4, including a triple, scoring a run and driving in another. "Pitching has been a common theme for the last few years. Those guys just give us a chance to win every single night.

"Now we're rounding it out, we've got a little offence to go along with it. I think we really have a team identity. Whether that's old school baseball or just playing the game the right way, I don't know."

Toronto benefited from New York's four errors and other fielding miscues, eking out runs on walks, dropped balls, wild pitches, and overthrows. Bichette's two-run blast, his 13th home run of the year, was the Blue Jays' cleanest score of the game as Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had led off the inning with a double.

Clement believes Toronto's hard-nosed approach put pressure on the Yankees' fielders to play defence faster, leading to their handful of mistakes.

"They know we play the game hard," said Clement. "There's no doubt that they pick their heads up [after fielding the ball] and we're halfway to first base, head down, running hard.

"As a fielder, that puts all the pressure in the world on you. You've got to be clean. If you bobble the ball at all, I mean, we're safe."

The Blue Jays and Yankees have played seven games at Rogers Centre in the past two weeks, with Toronto going