Edwin Encarnacion hit a two-run homer and Ryan Goins scored twice as the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the New York Yankees 7-2 on Wednesday night at Rogers Centre.
The Blue Jays put up four runs in the first inning off New York starter Hiroki Kuroda and Encarnacion added some insurance an inning later with a rainbow blast that just cleared the left-field wall.
Toronto starter Todd Redmond (2-2) was effective over 5 2-3 innings as the Blue Jays won the rubber match of the three-game series in front of 36,565 fans.
The Blue Jays batted around in the first inning and scored all of their runs with two outs in the frame.
Goins got things started with a double and Adam Lind reached on a walk. Brett Lawrie of Langley, B.C., drove them both in with a double to the left-centre field gap.
After Rajai Davis was hit by a pitch, J.P. Arencibia struck out but ran to first base when catcher Chris Stewart gave up a passed ball. Stewart’s throw to first was wide and ended up rolling into foul territory, allowing Lawrie and Davis to score on the error.
Moises Sierra followed with a single and Kuroda got Anthony Gose to line out to end the inning.
Goins singled in the second inning and Encarnacion followed with his 34th home run of the season, leaving him one RBI short of the 100 plateau. Arencibia made it 7-0 when he scored in the third inning on a sacrifice fly by Jose Reyes.
Redmond rolled through the first three innings but gave up a pair of runs in the fourth.
After walking Curtis Granderson and Alfonso Soriano, Alex Rodriguez hit an RBI single to left field that put the Yankees on the board. Soriano moved to third and scored when Mark Reynolds doubled off the wall in right-centre field.
Moises Sierra jumped against the wall but couldn’t make the catch. Gose gathered the ball and threw it to the second baseman Goins, who fired a strike to Arencibia and the tag was made on Rodriguez.
Gose showed his range in the next inning by sprinting into shallow centre to make a tremendous diving catch that robbed Stewart of a base hit.
Redmond struck out Soriano and Rodriguez in the sixth inning before being pulled for left-hander Aaron Loup, who got Lyle Overbay to ground out. Redmond gave up three hits, two earned runs, four walks and struck out seven.
Kuroda (11-10) allowed five earned runs and nine hits over five innings of work. He walked a batter and had four strikeouts.
Toronto outhit New York 10-5. The game took two hours 51 minutes to play.
Entering Wednesday’s games, New York was 4 1/2 games out of a wild-card spot and 7 1/2 games behind first-place Boston in the American League East. The Blue Jays are last in the division.
Notes: New York second baseman Robinson Cano took the night off after being hit in the left hand by a pitch on Tuesday. He’s listed as day to day. … The Rogers Centre roof was closed at the start of the game but was opened in the second inning. … The Blue Jays will get a day off Thursday. They will close out their six-game homestand with a three-game series against the Kansas City Royals beginning Friday night. Toronto left-hander Mark Buehrle (10-7) is scheduled to start against right-hander Ervin Santana (8-7). … The Yankees are also off Thursday. They will begin a 10-game homestand against the Baltimore Orioles on Friday.
