With 5-run 9th, Yanks stun Jays, cut their WC lead

TORONTO — In a game marred by two early bench-clearing incidents, the Yankees scored five runs in the ninth inning — three coming on homers by Mark Teixeira and Aaron Hicks — and defeated the Blue Jays, 7-5, on Monday night at Rogers Centre to salvage the finale of the four-game series.

Toronto left the bases loaded after scoring twice in its half of the ninth. The loss cut the Blue Jays’ lead in the American League Wild Card to one game over the idle Orioles.

After Yankees starter Luis Severino was ejected for hitting Justin Smoak in the second, the Yanks used seven relievers, including closer Dellin Betances, who didn’t record an out in the ninth. The Yankees’ uprising deprived Happ of his 21st victory. He worked 7 1/3 innings, allowing six hits and two runs.

“There was a lot of emotion in the game,” Teixeira said, acknowledging that he let Jason Grilli know he blew the save. “We were just having fun with it. Our team has been fighting all year. We’re probably not going to make the playoffs, so we’re just going to enjoy the rest of the year, keep fighting. We had fun tonight. The start of the game was unnecessary but we finished it well.”

MOMENTS THAT MATTEREDI got five on it: The Yanks’ bats came alive in the ninth. In possibly his final road game, Teixeira tied the game — accentuated with a bat flip — with a one-out homer off Grilli, who was working the ninth because Roberto Osuna had closed out the two previous games. The veteran first baseman tied Dave Winfield for 13th on the Yankees’ all-time list with No. 205. After Didi Gregorius singled, Hicks put the Yankees in the lead for good with his long two-run shot and New York added two more runs on a Jacoby Ellsbury RBI single and Gary Sanchez’s sacrifice fly. The five runs in the ninth tied the Yanks’ output from their previous 35 innings.

“I’ve never done it before,” Teixeira said about the bat flip. “Like I said, it could be the last home run I hit. So why not bat flip on it? Sure.”

Tension mounts: Not one, but two bench-clearing incidents highlighted the early portion, with emotions running high and both teams competing for the playoffs. Severino got it started by hitting Josh Donaldson in the bottom of the first, then Happ hit Chase Headley in the …

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