TORONTO – Bo Bichette’s two-run homer capped off a wild victory as the Toronto Blue Jays held off the New York Yankees 8-4 on Wednesday.

The victory tied the Blue Jays with the Houston Astros for the best record in the American League.

Myles Straw’s double drove in Ernie Clement for the go-ahead run in the sixth inning as Toronto (60-42) won the three-game series and locked up the tiebreaker between the two AL East rivals.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had an RBI double in the fourth, then drove in two more runs in the fifth on a fielder’s choice, as the Blue Jays and Yankees traded leads. Clement’s basehit in the fourth also scored a runner and pinch-hitter Will Wagner plated Straw in the sixth.

Chris Bassitt (11-4) was solid for 7 1/3 innings, striking out eight and allowing four runs — three earned — on three hits and no walks. Relievers Justin Bruihl and Yariel Rodriguez preserved the win.

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Aaron Judge’s two-run homer in the sixth tied the game 4-4 for New York (56-46), but that lead disappeared in the bottom of the inning thanks to Straw and Wagner’s RBIs. Jasson Dominguez had a home run in the second and Anthony Volpe added a solo shot in the fifth.

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Ace Max Fried (11-4) struggled, giving up five runs — four earned — on six hits and three walks, striking out three over 5 1/3 innings.

Jonathan Loaisiga, Scott Effross and JT Brubaker all came out of the visitor’s bullpen, with Effross giving up two runs.

Takeaways

Yankees: The long ball remains the key to success for New York, with all four of its runs coming from homers. The Yankees entered the game with a Major League Baseball-best 162 home runs, five more than the Los Angeles Dodgers. Shohei Ohtani had L.A.’s one homer in its 4-3 win over the Minnesota Twins earlier Wednesday.

Blue Jays: Toronto benefited greatly 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 Guerrero had led off the inning with a double.

Key moment

Davis Schneider was caught stealing by Yankees catcher J.C. Escarra with one out in the fifth inning. A video replay overturned the call on the field, however. George Springer drew a walk in the next at bat and Guerrero drove them both home when Escarra dropped the ball trying to tag Schneider at the plate.

Key stat

The Blue Jays expanded their lead in the AL East to four games over New York with the victory. Toronto and the Yankees will play three more times this year but the Blue Jays now have the tiebreaker should they wind up with identical records by the end of the regular season.

Up next

Eric Lauer (5-2) will take the mound as the Blue Jays begin a four-game series in Detroit.

Reese Olson (4-3) gets the start for the AL Central-leading Tigers (60-43).

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 23, 2025.

&copy 2025 The Canadian Press

Ontario is planning to sidestep the federal government and begin issuing work permits to asylum seekers living in the province using a clause written into the constitution.

At the end of a three-day summit with the nation’s leaders in Muskoka, Ont., Premier Doug Ford said his government would start studying how it could give asylum seekers the right to work immediately in the province.

“We have authority in that area,” he said. “No one understands the sectors and their labour needs better than the premiers.”

Ford said it was Alberta Premier Danielle Smith who pointed out Section 95 of the constitution gives provinces the right to make decisions on immigration. That section allows provincial governments to create laws governing immigration “as long and as far only as it is not repugnant” to any federal law.

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Global News contacted the federal immigration ministry to ask if it would oppose any moves by Ontario to give asylum seekers work permits. It did not send a statement in time for publication.

“We will be issuing our own work permits,” Ford declared on Thursday.

He said the move made sense in order to allow asylum seekers, who receive government support while their applications are processed, to contribute to the local economy as they wait.

“I have a tremendous amount of asylum seekers that are up in Etobicoke in the hotels, they’re healthy, they’re willing to work, they’re hardworking people, but they’re waiting over two years and they’re just sucking off the system — not their fault,” Ford said.

“The fault falls under immigration that it takes over two years to get a work permit.”

The premier’s office said Ontario, along with other provinces, was currently exploring exactly what using Section 95 powers would look like.

They said there was no timeline for when the province could start issuing work permits, nor had it yet been finalized what mechanisms or legislation would be needed.

Direction from Ford, however, was clear, according to his office: internal work would begin immediately to figure out how to grant the work permits.

The premier said asylum seekers in his province want to work.

“They want to get out there and they want to be like every other Canadian,” Ford said. “They want to find a job, they want to be able to first start off renting a condo or part of a house and then buying a house.”

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