“They’ve had our number a little bit,” third baseman Chase Headley said. “For whatever reason, they’ve been able to get a couple runs and get the big hit when they needed to, and we haven’t.”

The win ensures that the Blue Jays will win a fifth consecutive series against the Yankees — the first time that has happened since 1993 — and have now won eight of their past nine series.

“You never want to disrespect somebody on the other side by making a generalized comment and them taking it the wrong way,” said Blue Jays right fielder Jose Bautista. “And I honestly can’t say it’s because of this or because of that.”

But Bautista did say the Blue Jays’ success — after so many years of struggles against the Yankees, especially in New York, where they once went two and a half seasons without winning a series — might be in the heads of both teams.

“It elevates your awareness on things that you can do to attack a team that have worked,” he said. “It can elevate your confidence, just like if you’re losing, you can become a little shy or wary of certain situations and maybe even panic.”

The formula for the Yankees has been straightforward: They either have to get a shutdown performance or get into the shaky Blue Jays bullpen. In four of their eight wins since the start of last season, Yankees starters have allowed a total of one run. In the other four, they have staged late comebacks to win.