TORONTO — The Yankees’ defense cost them another game, as they dropped a tough loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday night. New York now shares the league lead in most blown multi-run leads from the sixth inning on. Many of those losses have come with a defensive miscue, and Monday was no different.

The sixth inning began with a leadoff double by Toronto’s Davis Schneider. The Yankees turned to their bullpen and brought in Mark Leiter Jr., who has been involved in several of the team’s recent collapses. Miles Straw followed with an infield single. Anthony Volpe made a play on the ball but threw wildly to third in an attempt to get the lead runner, allowing Straw to advance to second. That was the first of two questionable plays Volpe made in the inning. The second came on a slow roller off the bat of Ernie Clement. Volpe fielded it but opted to make a rushed attempt, which allowed another runner to move into scoring position instead of simply eating the ball.

“There’s some plays that you’re going to be aggressive,” Volpe said postgame. “I’m going to go for that play every single time. Ball gets knocked down and it’s not an error. I expect to make that play, whether it’s in the book or not”.

Manager Aaron Boone backed up his shortstop’s decision-making: “I don’t have a problem going to third there because there’s obviously no play in that situation to first, but we just have to be accurate with the ball”.

The Yankees now hold just a two-game lead over the Blue Jays in the American League East and a one-and-a-half game edge over the Tampa Bay Rays. Defensive lapses that cost bases — and in effect, runs — continue to hurt them in tight divisional races. New York will send Max Fried to the mound today in hopes of evening the series.