Yankees rake, Masahiro Tanaka deals, Aaron Judge returns in romp of Blue Jays | Rapid reaction

Aaron Judge played the final two innings in right field of the Yankees’ 11-0 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday night at Yankee Stadium.

NEW YORK — A blowout Yankees win was in progress Friday night at Yankee Stadium when left fielder Brett Gardner glided a few steps toward center to pull in a can-of-corn flyball that ended a scoreless Toronto Blue Jays fifth.

That’s when a few of the guys on this Yankees ballclub that looked so lethargic at times going 4-5 on its just-over, three-city roadtrip decided to have a little fun.

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As the Yankees were jogging off the field, Gardner flipped the baseball to center fielder Aaron Hicks, who pretended to be a quarterback as shortstop Didi Gregorius pretended to be a wide receiver running a route.

Gregorius raised his hand to signal that he was open, then pulled in a perfectly led pass from Hicks that was celebrated with a spike near first base.

From there, second baseman Gleyber Torres retrieved the baseball and flipped it over the netting to a fan sitting behind the Yankees dugout.

Everything about this night was a blast for the Yankees, who opened their final homestand of the regular season with an 11-0 whitewash of the Jays.

Masahiro Tanaka pitched six shutout innings in his third gem in a row, the Yankees woke up to torch Blue Jays starter Marco Estrada for eight runs over 2 2/3 innings and, best of all, Aaron Judge was off the disabled list and playing the first two innings in right field.

Manager Aaron Boone announced during his pre-game news conference that Judge finally was being activated 50 days after he fractured his right wrist on a July 26 hit by pitch.

Judge isn’t ready to hit in a game yet – big No. 99 just resumed taking batting practice last weekend – but he’s available to play defense and pinch-run, and he was inserted Friday for the top of the eighth with the Yankees up nine runs as Andrew McCutchen shifted from right to left, Gardner moved from center to center and Hicks was given the rest of the evening off.

“It was almost kind of the perfect scenario,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “I was going to put him in for McCutchen (in the leadoff spot), but when hit spot kind of rolled through to Hicks (who hit third) … it kind of lined up tonight. I knew I wasn’t going to let Judge hit.”

Earlier, Tanaka put on a show, as he pitched a four-hitter over six scoreless with eight strikeouts and two walks in improving to 12-5 on the season. In his last three starts, he’s 3-0 with one run allowed over 20 innings for a 0.45 ERA.

He’s just been real sharp with all of his pitches … the slider, split and fastball,” manager Aaron Boone said. “There’s just really good intent it seems like right now with what he wants to do, where he wants to go with it and then he’s really executing and he continues to be really consistent for us.”

This sizzling stretch has Tanaka in the mix with J.A. Happ and Luis Severino to start the AL Wild Card Game on Sept. 3.

The Yankees will be playing Oakland somewhere in that do-or-die unless we have a hell-freezes-over second half of September in baseball.

The Yankees’ series-opening win over the Jays kept their lead at two games over Oakland for the top Wild Card spot (and home field in the Wild Card Game). The Athletics won 2-1 in 10 innings in Baltimore.

“Of course, we want to play here (at Yankee Stadium) in the playoffs and it’s nice knowing that that’s in our control,” Boone said.

The Yankees had this one in control early as they batted around and scored first-inning runs facing Estrada, the big blow a two-run double by Luke Voit that made it a 5-0 game.

Estrada was chased in the Yankees’ three-run third after Giancarlo Stanton delivered a two-run hit to make it 8-0, Andrew McCutchen and Didi Gregorius added the icing with solo homers off Blue Jays relievers.

The Yankees’ were due for an explosive offensive like this, as they averaged just 3.7 runs and hit .198 during their nine games in road series against Oakland, Seattle and Minnesota.

“That was really nice,” Boone said. “That last game on the roadtrip, for being no-hit (for 7 1/3 innings by Twins starter Jake Ororizzi in Wednesday night’s 3-1 loss), I felt like our at-bats were good. I felt like actually up and down the lineup we hit the ball pretty well.

“Tonight, to really come out and get after it and throw up a crooked (number) up there early and continue to add on was nice and something we needed. It’s hopefully something that can jumpstart even more a little bit.”

NOTABLE

— Gary Sanchez (3-for-4, walk), McCutchen (3-for-3, two walks) and Torres (2-for-4) had multi-hit games for the Yanks, who out-hit the Jays 14-7.

–Luis Cessa worked three shutout innings of relief to pick up his second save and complete the Yankees’ 11th shutout of the season.

— Rehabbing closer Aroldis Chapman’s trouble knee feels good and he may be off the disabled list by next Tuesday for the start of the Yankees-Red Sox’ series at Yankee Stadium. On the DL since Aug. 22 with left knee tendinitis, Chapman played catch on Friday, he’ll throw a second bullpen in four days on Saturday and, if all goes well, he might pitch a simulated game during Monday’s off day. After that, Chapman could be cleared.

LOOKING AHEAD

Saturday: Toronto Blue Jays at Yankees, 4:05 p.m., YES. RHP Sean Reid-Foley (1-3, 6.86) vs. LHP CC Sabathia (7-6, 3.54).

Sunday: Toronto Blue Jays at Yankees, 1:05 p.m., YES. LHP Thomas Pannone (2-1, 4.13) vs. RHP Lance Lynn (9-10, 5.01).

Monday: Off day

Tuesday: Boston Red Sox at Yankees, 1:05 p.m., WPIX. RHP Nathan Eovaldi (5-7, 4.22) vs. LHP J.A. Happ (16-6, 3.75).

Wednesday: Boston Red Sox at Yankees, 7:05 p.m., YES. LHP David Price (15-6, 3.42) vs. RHP Luis Severino (17-8, 3.46).

Thursday: Boston Red Sox at Yankees, 7:05 p.m., YES LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (12-4, 3.53) vs. RHP Masahiro Tanaka (12-5, 3.47).

Randy Miller may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.