Jays' ninth-inning rally needs to carry over into Sunday's double dip in the Bronx

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Judgement Day at Yankee Stadium was postponed on Sunday thanks to Mother Nature.

It was to be an afternoon when Yankees’ franchise face Aaron Judge was going to usher in his 33th birthday at the ballpark.

Instead, the second of a three-game series between the Bronx Bombers and the visiting Blue Jays was postponed due to inclement weather in the forecast and rescheduled as part of a Sunday. doubleheader beginning at 1:35 p.m.

The series in the Bronx is the first between the two teams this season.

The Jays staged a thrilling ninth-inning rally Friday night to score three runs en route to a 4-2 win, a critical victory given the five-game losing streak the team took into the Big Apple.

The win improved Toronto’s overall record to 13-13, including a 7-4 mark against three of the Jays’ AL East rivals. The only divisional foe Toronto has yet to face is Tampa.

Judge went 1-for-4 on Friday, while drawing one free pass and striking out twice.

In six career-games played on his birthday, Judge has batted .333 with two home runs.

In a way, the Jays catch a break knowing Judge is more than capable of lighting it up on any given day.

Even without the presence of Juan Soto, who moved to Queens to play for the New York Mets, Judge, the reigning American League MVP, entered Saturday leading MLB hitters with a .408 average, a .508 on-base percentage, a .714 slugging percentage and a 1.222 OPS.

One of Toronto’s strengths has been its pitching, especially from its starters. Jose Berrios worked around some jams in Friday’s series opener, but he left without yielding a run.

As strange as it may sound, a sweep of the Yankees is possible, which seemed rather improbable considering the five-game losing streak Toronto took into Gotham.

In baseball, momentum is measured by the next day’s starter. And with Kevin Gausman slated to start Game 1 and Chris Bassitt in Game 2, the Jays have a shot of going 3-for-3 for the weekend trip.

The events of Friday night should provide the visitors with a jolt.

Down to their final three outs, the Jays staged a thrilling three-run ninth, punctuated by Alejandro Kirk’s clutch two-run double that gave Toronto a 3-2 lead.

Addison Barger then drove in Kirk for the Jays’ fourth run.

There have been some moments of misery for the Blue Jays this early in the season, beginning right from being humbled by Baltimore on opening night to being swept by the Astros in Houston this past week.

Toronto scored just two runs on nine hits in the three-game set with the Astros, a malaise which extended into Friday’s match with the Jays scattering two singles and an Addison Barger double through five scoreless innings.

Vlad Guerrero Jr., got things going with a leadoff homer in the sixth — the 15th time he’s gone yard in 43 games at Yankee Stadium — and the Jays followed with five more hits the rest of the way.

Baseball being the numbers-centric sport that it is will point to the 17 belts Reggie Jackson posted and the 16 by Jay Buhner as the only two to hit more bombs in the Bronx. Guerrero joins Albert Belle on the list of 15.

Defence and pitching, save for the occasional blunder on the field or blowup on the mound, have not been the issue for the Jays.

The main issue involves the Jays’ offence. One swing by Kirk isn’t going to change that overnight, but the shot to deep right-centre over Trent Grisham’s head was a welcome turn of events for both the player and the team.

“It feels great,’’ said Kirk, whose 2-for-4 game raised his season average to .227. “I needed it and the team needed it. I’m very happy, just very happy about it.”

He should be. But now comes the trick of parlaying that moment into an extended stretch of productivity.

“When you’re playing every day, you can get into a little bit of a rut,” said manager John Schneider. “You can say good arms and yes we have faced good arms and it kind of gets a little bit contagious, either way.
“There are some guys that are grinding a little bit and there are guys that are swinging it and it takes a game like (Friday) to hopefully come out of it. Everyone did their part — Vlad with the homer, Kirky with the big knock, Barg chips in, the baserunning was good, pitching was good. Hopefully that gets us on a little bit of a roll.”

For that to happen, the top of the order needs to step up.

Bo Bichette went 1-for-5 from the leadoff spot, his only base knock coming in his first at-bat, while Anthony Santander went 0-for-4.

Toronto has scored four or fewer runs in 18 of their first 26 games.

fzicarelli@postmedia.com