Yankees get huge assist from Pirates' Tommy Pham after drama puts Blue Jays on tilt

On Monday night, the Toronto Blue Jays lost their series opener to the Pittsburgh Pirates and their AL East lead dropped to five games. Paul Skenes handled his business and the Jays melted down in the seventh and eighth innings. New York Yankees fans owe Tommy Pham a big "thank you."

Pham, a notorious agitator who some Yankees fans wanted on this roster in the past to wake up some of the team's sleepy characteristics, caused a benches-clearing incident during the Pirates' 5-2 win.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Pittsburgh took a 3-2 lead and had a runner on second with nobody out. Pham stepped into the batter's box and walked on four pitches, but before he made his way to first base he flipped his bat aggressively right in front of Blue Jays catcher Tyler Heineman, which obviously ruffled some feathers.

Pham and Heineman started to exchange words. The umpire got in the middle of it. Then the benches and bullpens cleared. The crowd at PNC Park started to chant "USA, USA!". But in the end, no punches were thrown and everything de-escalated quickly.

What followed, though? That was what Yankees fans should be thankful for. Pham clearly got under the Blue Jays' skin. The very next inning, they made two errors that allowed two more runs to cross the plate, making a ninth-inning comeback that much more unlikely.

Yankees fans are loving Blue Jays fans being in shambles over Tommy Pham incident

Blue Jays fans completely unraveled on social media. Manager John Schneider made sure to let everybody know he doesn't care what Pham thinks. In the postgame, Heineman said he "barely knows who [Pham] is."

What's funny is that Heineman also said that he "didn't say a word" and had no idea why Pham reacted the way he did. But the Pirates broadcast noted that on the pitch prior, Heineman complained to the umpire about it not being called a strike, which evidently rubbed Pham the wrong way.

Pham's NSFW tweet after the game explained it all. So while Heineman might've been referring to the fact he didn't say anything to Pham, it's clear that he wasn't exactly silent on the matter.

It's also perfect that the Jays are running into Skenes, Mitch Keller and a resurgent Braxton Ashcraft, who recently earned a spot in the rotation for his good work in long relief. Toronto is obviously the better team, so they should come out on top.

But if Pham proves to be a distraction, it won't be easy for the Blue Jays to navigate that starting staff. Give us a Yankees win on Tuesday and a few more errors from Toronto. If Jays fans thought Monday night was meltdown-worthy, just imagine what'll happen if they blow this division lead.