TORONTO — As the Yankees held their breath again on Juan Soto on Saturday afternoon, they put together an uninspiring performance without him.
A night after scoring a season-high 16 runs, the Yankees fell back to earth with a 9-3 loss to the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre while Soto underwent imaging on his bruised right hand.
Soto, a late scratch from the lineup, returned to the dugout around mid-game but could only watch as the Yankees (53-32) were mostly shut down by Chris Bassitt and the Blue Jays bullpen.
Nestor Cortes gave up three runs across 4 ¹/₃ inefficient innings before the Blue Jays (38-44) broke the game open in the sixth inning against relievers Phil Bickford and Caleb Ferguson.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (3-for-5, six RBIs) and former Yankee Isiah Kiner-Falefa (4-for-5, three runs) led the charge as the Yankees got smacked around again.
They had not allowed more than eight runs in any of their first 65 games but have now done so seven times in their last 20 games, including four of their last five.
Bassitt held the Yankees to just one unearned run across six innings before Austin Wells ripped a two-run home run in the ninth off reliever Jose Cuas.
The Yankees, who lost for the 10th time in their last 13 games, will now try to earn a split of the four-game series on Sunday to avoid dropping their fifth straight series.
For the 10th straight game, the Yankees fell behind first.
They had a chance to score in the top of the first, which included Aaron Judge drilling a 101.6 mph line drive off Bassitt that left a sizable welt on his right forearm.
But Ben Rice — batting second for Soto — was thrown out at third on a double-steal attempt with Gleyber Torres at the plate to end the inning.
Then in the bottom of the frame, Guerrero took Cortes deep for a two-run shot, his third home run in as many games this series.
Cortes threw a cutter on the outside edge and Guerrero went the other way with it for the 2-0 lead.
Rice doubled with two outs in the third inning — the first extra-base hit of his big league career — but the Blue Jays responded by intentionally walking Judge.
The plan worked to perfection as Bassitt got Alex Verdugo to pop out to end the threat.
The Blue Jays padded their lead in the bottom of the fourth as Yankees-killer Alejandro Kirk roped an RBI double to score Justin Turner, who had led off with a double, to make it 3-0.
The damage stopped there, though, as Torres made a fine diving grab to his right on a line drive with the infield in, then threw to third to double off George Springer and end the inning.
The Yankees received another brief scare in the top of the fifth, when Anthony Volpe was shaken up after appearing to jam his right foot on first base trying to leg out a ground ball.
The throw was high, allowing Volpe to reach safely, and after being tended to by manager Aaron Boone and a trainer, he remained in the game.
Later in the inning, with Volpe at third and two outs, the Blue Jays opted to pitch to Judge and he made them pay, shooting a single up the middle to trim the deficit to 3-1.
The Blue Jays iced the game in the sixth, loading the bases off Bickford before Guerrero cleared them with a three-run double to make it 8-1.