TORONTO — Even umpire Chris Segal could see, from across the diamond, the biggest difference between the teams in Saturday’s Yankees-Blue Jays game at Rogers Centre was an excuse-me swing triple that produced two runs late in the game.

There were, however, plenty of other reasons why the Yankees dropped a 5-4 decision to the rebuilding but plucky Blue Jays in front of 33,903.

Yankees pitchers issued eight walks, none that hurt more than Adam Ottavino issuing a free pass to Bo Bichette with one out in the seventh and the Yankees leading by a run.

Stephen Tarpley’s walk of Justin Smoak starting the fourth also hurt when Chance Adams gave up a three-run homer to Teoscar Hernandez that erased the 1-0 lead Gary Sanchez’s homer provided in the top of the inning.

Yankees hitters got one at-bat with runners in scoring position and Didi Gregorius stranded Mike Tauchman at third in the seventh.

Finally, the Yankees collected five hits off five Blue Jays pitchers whose profiles might be low but whose arms were good.

“Obviously the different looks they were able to run out there today,’’ Aaron Boone said of the Blue Jays pitchers. “Still able to push four across there on a day we didn’t get a ton of hits obviously. Credit to them, they mixed and matched and held us down enough today.’’

The Yankees’ second straight loss after winning a season-high nine games cut their AL East lead over second-place Tampa Bay to nine games entering the Rays’ game Saturday night in Seattle.

Yet thanks to Gio Urshela’s two-run homer in the sixth that tied the score, 3-3, and DJ LeMahieu’s sacrifice fly in the seventh, the Yankees held a 4-3 advantage entering the bottom of the seventh.

After having used Chad Green as an opener for the 10th time, Boone was lined up to used Ottavino in the seventh, Zack Britton in the eighth and closer Aroldis Chapman in the ninth.

Britton worked the eighth, but did so on the short side of a 5-4 score because of Ottavino’s rocky seventh. The crucial inning included Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s defensive swing producing a ground ball inside the first base bag that stayed away from right fielder Aaron Judge long enough to score Bichette and Cavan Biggio and allow the heavy-legged Guerrero to reach third for his first big league triple.

“I think the mistake was the walk [to Bichette], obviously,’’ said Ottavino, who was charged with a fifth blown save in six chances. “After the first-pitch hit [by Biggio] and a broken bat and obviously the ball down the line. It is what it is, no excuse, got to get it done.’’

When Ottavino saw the ball off Guerrero’s bat, he didn’t believe what he was seeing.

“I looked up and saw [the first base umpire] calling it fair. It was a little bit of disbelief,’’ said Ottavino, who struck out Randal Grichuk and Smoak to keep the deficit at a run and give the Yankees two innings to come back.

Brett Gardner reached on a two-out single against Derek Law in the eighth, but Cameron Maybin fanned. Law walked Tauchman with one out in the ninth, but fed a 6-4-3 ground ball double play to LeMahieu and the Yankees were beaten for a second straight night by a team not much better than the brutal Orioles, but with a brighter future because of the three names involved in the game-winning play.

The Yankees’ second straight loss calls for a win Sunday behind the struggling Masahiro Tanaka in order to split the four-game series against a team that is 49-71.

Following Thursday night’s 12-6 victory that extended the Yankees’ winning streak to nine, nobody was thinking split. Now that will look good going through customs Sunday.