NEW YORK—The Blue Jays accomplished the unthinkable here this weekend by sweeping the first-place New York Yankees and doing so by allowing just one run in three games.

The Jays are on a drive to topple the Yankees from atop the AL East, and are within 1½ games of doing so after Sunday’s 2-0 victory. But aside from this past weekend’s terrific performance at Yankee Stadium, there was also some superb execution and scouting.

Firstly, Toronto got it right when the started knuckleballer R.A. Dickey in the series opener Friday, which the Jays won 2-1. That marked the second time this past week the Yankees faced a knuckleballer, and after Dickey, they didn’t score a run in the final two games of this series.

“I think everyone expected a slugfest given the two offences, but that’s not what happened,” Jays manager John Gibbons said, as his pitching stole the show in a matchup of the only two teams in the majors to score 500-plus runs thus far this season.

“They (Yankees) faced knuckleballers twice this week, and our guys (scouts) studied the effect of knuckleballers . . . I’ve seen it happen to other teams where it throws them out of whack. We pitched good too, and they have a heckuva offence. We just got some big home runs.”

YOUR CALL!

Indeed, Toronto won Friday on Jose Bautista’s 10th-inning homer; Justin Smoak broke open a 0-0 draw in the sixth inning Saturday with a grand slam; and Josh Donaldson and Bautista homered Sunday to give the Jays their first series sweep in New York since September of 2003.

And in doing so, the Jays shocked the Yankees with the reality that the Jays are the better team at the moment.

But behind the scenes, and beyond the terrific additions of David Price, Troy Tulowitzki, Mark Lowe, Ben Revere and Cliff Pennington, the Jays had pro scout Sal Butera return to the team in New York on Friday after a lengthy mission scouting opponents the Jays have been beating lately.

That, along with other scouting work and analytics and seemingly endless hours by Gibbons and his coaching staff, underlined the performance on the field.

Jays pitchers, for instance, were masterful in keeping powerful Yankee hitters away from the short right field fence, which is a key feature in how the Yanks are built. Every earned run in this series was scored by a home run, and the Jays gave up only one — a left field solo shot by Mark Teixeira on Friday.

Toronto slugger Josh Donaldson continued his case for MVP, hitting a first-inning homer Sunday off Masahiro Tanaka; Donaldson’s last four homers have come in the first inning, including a pair in this series.

Again, that’s a product of thorough scouting, video reviews and having patience with a good pitcher like Tanaka. The Jays know that at some point, one of their top four or five hitters will inevitably get a good pitch to hit.

“I think what it says is that I’m getting ready to hit,” Donaldson said of his early homers. “We’ve got great guys hitting all around me, and for me to do this they all have to be on top of their game too. So I’m fortunate now to get good pitches to hit and get good swings on them.”

Two weeks ago, Toronto sat eight games behind the Yankees in the AL East and nine games in the loss column. In stunning fashion, this weekend series culminated a stretch where those numbers have been cut to 1½ games.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Toronto is now 11-0 with Tulowitzki in the lineup, and he was rested for the only game the team lost in that span (7-6 to the Royals).

Toronto’s push for first in the division — which is the primary focus, not simply a wild-card berth — is for real. But Gibbons, knowing the work that’s gone into it and the work that lies ahead, remains cautious in his enthusiasm.

“We’ve climbed back and we’re close now, but we have to continue to play good baseball. We haven’t done anything yet, but excite our fans,” Gibbons said.

Read more about: