TORONTO — Led by R.A. Dickey, a caravan of pinstriped meat wagons passed through customs Tuesday night. The string of hearses will idle at the curb outside Rogers Centre on Wednesday night, waiting for more oxygen to be sucked out of the Yankees’ lungs.
Having been embarrassed in Boston over the weekend as they dropped three straight, the Yankees harped on still having a chance to steal one of the two AL wild-card tickets when they opened a three-game series against the morbid Blue Jays.
Instead, they fizzled so badly Alfonso Soriano questioned how much life his club showed.
“We have to play hard [Wednesday night] with more energy,’’ Soriano said after Dickey and two relievers suffocated a suddenly frigid Yankees lineup with a 2-0 victory before an announced crowd of 24,894.
The Yankees’ fourth straight loss left them 3 ½ games behind Texas and Tampa Bay, who are tied atop the wild-card standings.
“It’s hard after a day off, especially on the road. I hope [Wednesday night] we have more energy and do the little things we didn’t do tonight,’’ said Soriano, who doubled in four at-bats and whiffed in the other three.
On top of getting blanked and collecting five hits, the Yankees wasted a solid outing from Andy Pettitte, who gave up one runs and five hits in 6 ²/₃ innings but fell to 10-10.
A home run to Colby Rasmus on what Pettitte described as a “terrible mistake’’ in the fourth inning was enough for the veteran lefty to absorb a loss for the first time since Aug. 5.
Asked if there was a sense of urgency with 11 games remaining, Pettitte was blunt.
“If not, with some of these guys, they are playing the wrong sport and with the wrong organization,’’ Pettitte said.
Manager Joe Girardi, the eternal optimist, couldn’t put a positive spin on the defeat.
“We are darn close,’’ the manager said when asked about games being labeled must wins.
The Yankees aren’t eliminated from the wild-card chase yet, but only a fool would believe they aren’t headed that way.
“I think anything is possible,’’ Alex Rodriguez said about the Yankees sneaking into October. “But we have to get going. We are running out of time.’’
A two-out rally in the first that was started by Robinson Cano’s single and followed by Soriano’s double and a walk to Lyle Overbay was snuffed when Mark Reynolds struck out.
The Yankees had first and second against Dickey in the second and Rodriguez bounced out to short.
That was all the chances Dickey (13-12) gave the Yankees.
“It was dancing all over the place. If he gets the right grip and velocity, he can make it do crazy things,’’ Curtis Granderson said. “Tonight he was able to do that.’’
With two outs in the seventh, Girardi replaced a gassed Pettitte with Shawn Kelley and Rajai Davis sent a 1-0 pitch into the second level of seats in left field for a 2-0 bulge that looked a lot larger.
Second baseman Ryan Goins’ fielding error on Granderson’s one-out grounder in the eighth gave the Yankees a chance, but Sergio Santos caught Rodriguez looking and induced Cano to bounce out.
An inning later, Overbay singled with one out off Casey Janssen, but Reynolds and Ichiro Suzuki struck out to end it.
“We have been grinding all year, and I hope we have one more run in us,’’ Pettitte said. “We have to find a way to right the ship.’’
But even that might not be enough to avoid getting slid into the back of the meat wagons and fitted for toe tags.