In the biggest start of his life, Schlittler delivered a masterful performance, striking out 12 in Game 3 to lead New York into the ALDS.

NEW YORK — When a battle for the aces in the offseason evolved into a battle of the aces on the opening day of the postseason, the Red Sox emerged victorious — again. “I felt like [manager Alex Cora has] put a lot of faith in me this year, and I haven’t let him down yet,” Crochet said. “So I was going to be damn sure this wasn’t the first time.”

The New York Yankees were on track to finish one win shy of repeating as AL East champion and lose to Toronto on a tiebreaker despite beating the Baltimore Orioles 3-2 behind a pair of Ben Rice home runs for a season-ending eight-game winning streak.

Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton had their chance. When both big sluggers came up empty, the New York Yankees' leaky bullpen failed to get them another one. New York trailed by two runs and had the bases loaded with nobody out as Judge stepped to the plate against Toronto Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman in the sixth inning of their AL Division Series opener Saturday.

Masataka Yoshida's seventh-inning single drove in two Red Sox runs, and Alex Bregman added one more in the top of the ninth.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. wants to leave his mark on Toronto Blue Jays postseason history, just like Joe Carter did with his World Series-winning home run in 1993.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s first-inning homer was part of a three-hit night that gave the Blue Jays a "jolt" in Saturday's 10-1 Game 1 win over the Yankees.