Cano Leads Yankees To Win Over Blue Jays
NEW YORK (AP) — Robinson Cano gave the Yankees the lead for the second straight game against Toronto, this time hitting a two-run double in the seventh inning to exceed 100 RBIs, and New York rallied to beat the Blue Jays 6-4 on Saturday.
Cano lined a 2-2 pitch from reliever Casey Janssen to the wall in center field to score Curtis Granderson and Alex Rodriguez, back in the lineup after missing a week with a sprained left thumb.
Ricky Romero (13-10) was cruising along after giving up a two-run homer to Francisco Cervelli and an RBI single to Eduardo Nunez in the third until he hit Granderson in the back with a curveball with one out in the seventh and walked Rodriguez.
After Cano's hit, Nick Swisher ended Janssen's scoreless streak at 16 2-3 innings with an RBI single, making it 6-4. Cano had the tiebreaking hit in Friday night's 3-2 win, a single in the fifth. He has 101 RBIs this season.
The Yankees improved to a major league-best 36-9 in day games and ended Romero's winning streak at six straight decisions. His last loss came against New York on July 16.
Rodriguez returned with a taped left thumb after missing six games. With Derek Jeter getting a day off after a night game and Mark Teixeira out for a second straight game because of a sore knee, A-Rod batted third for the first time this season. He went 1 for 3, striking out in the fifth after getting ahead in the count 3-0, and walked. He gave a big clap of the hands after scoring the go-ahead run.
Boone Logan (5-2) relieved Bartolo Colon with one out in the seventh and got two outs for the victory.
David Robertson tossed a perfect eighth. With Mariano Rivera unavailable after pitching two straight nights, Robertson also worked the ninth for his first save of the year and third of his career.
Toronto injury replacement Dewayne Wise tripled in his first at-bat after entering the game for Eric Thames, who left because of dizziness after striking out looking in the first. Wise hit his first homer of the season in the fifth, a tiebreaking shot.
Blue Jays shortstop Yunel Escobar also left because of an injury, pulling out before the bottom of the fifth with a jammed left wrist.
Adam Lind connected off Colon and Jose Bautista drove in a run for the fourth straight game for Toronto, which built a 4-3 lead against Colon in the fifth.
Colon came in 6-1 with 1.88 ERA in eight day starts, but he struggled at times in his 6 1-3 innings, giving up four runs and seven hits. He struck out seven and walked one, throwing a season-high 107 pitches.
Colon started off well enough in the brilliant sunshine, striking out the side — two looking with nasty movement on his fastball and a sharp breaking pitch. The second inning was another story.
Lind led off with his 24th home run, Edwin Encarnacion and Kelly Johnson each had a single and Encarnacion advanced to third on Brett Lawrie's fielder's choice.
J.P. Arencibia gave Toronto a 2-0 lead with a sacrifice fly.
The Yankees scored three times with two outs in the bottom half. Andruw Jones hit a one-out double, then top prospect Jesus Montero struck out in his first at-bat at Yankee Stadium. Nunez laced an RBI single over a leaping Escobar at shortstop.
Cervelli followed with a two-run homer. He crossed the plate without the hand clap that upset pitcher John Lackey on Tuesday night in Boston and led to a bench-clearing staredown two innings later.
The Blue Jays got a run right back when Wise tripled into the right-field corner and scored on Bautista's single.
Colon struck out his last batter of the third and fanned the side in the fourth. Wise homered into the Yankees' bullpen in right-center with one out in the fifth.
NOTES: Blue Jays 3B coach Brian Butterfield was ejected for arguing balls and strikes after Johnson struck out to end the third inning. ... Jones flipped over the low wall about midway down the right-field line trying to catch a foul ball. After a moment he got up, climbed back over the wall and jogged back to his position. ... Acting manager Don Wakamatsu said Bautista was sore after fouling ball off his leg Friday night and the slugging RF will probably DH on Sunday. "Get him off his feet a little bit tomorrow," Wakamatsu said. ... CC Sabathia goes for his 19th win when he faces Toronto's Brett Cecil (4-7) on Sunday in the series finale. ... Montero got his first big league hit in the sixth, a single.
