TORONTO – Jose Bautista can't get healthy soon enough for the Blue Jays.
Bautista missed his third consecutive game with a twisted right ankle and Toronto struggled against Phil Hughes, who pitched six effective innings to earn his first win of the season and lead the New York Yankees to a 7-2 victory on Sunday.
Toronto's offense has sputtered without Bautista, who leads the majors with 31 homers.
"His absence in the lineup is a hole to fill," Blue Jays manager John Farrell said. "He's our leader, he's our most productive offensive player. That's not to slight anyone who's in the lineup right now, but that's a substantial loss when he's not in there day in and day out."
Bautista played four innings in Thursday's 16-7 win. Toronto won 7-1 Friday without its star slugger, but has scored just three runs in the past two games, both losses.
Baseball's reigning home run king, Bautista hit off a tee before Sunday's game and could return Tuesday against Seattle. The Blue Jays are off Monday.
Brett Gardner had three hits and Curtis Granderson finished with three RBIs as the Yankees salvaged a split in the four-game series after being outscored 23-8 over the first two games.
"It's really important, especially in our race and with what we're trying to do, to be able to come back and tie this series," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "Four-game series are tough and the way we got started off, it wasn't pretty."
An 18-game winner and an All-Star in 2010, Hughes (1-2) was making just his fifth start of the season and his second since missing 84 games with a sore right shoulder. He gave up two runs and four hits to win for the first time since Oct. 2, 2010, at Boston.
"It's not 18 but it's a start," Hughes said. "It's a good feeling."
Armed with a new-look curveball, slightly faster than his old one, Hughes struck out five and walked two. He threw 80 pitches, 51 for strikes, and lowered his ERA to 8.44.
Most important, though, were the strikeouts and swings and misses at his fastball.
"It was jumping out of his hand today," catcher Russell Martin said. "From what I've seen in the past, that's what he's usually doing. Just knowing that he can throw it by guys has to feel good for him."
Before the game, Girardi said having a healthy Hughes on his staff was akin to a midseason acquisition.
"You're adding a quality starter to your rotation if you can get him back," Girardi said. "It's almost like making a trade."
Hughes, however, saw things a little differently.
"I was here April 1 so if anything I look at it as trying to make up for some lost time," he said. "I should have been here and winning games for us and I wasn't."
Gardner posted his second straight three-hit game, going 3 for 4 with a walk, two stolen bases and three runs scored. The speedy outfielder now has stolen 12 straight bases without being caught, and is hitting .625 (10 for 16) since the All-Star break.
Cory Wade pitched the seventh, David Robertson worked the eighth and Boone Logan finished for the Yankees.
The Yankees scored four times in the fourth to open a 5-1 lead. Nick Swisher hit a leadoff single and came around on a one-out double by Russell Martin. Eduardo Nunez singled Martin to third and Ramiro Pena hit a sacrifice fly to center. Gardner grounded a single to right before Granderson capped the rally with a two-run double.
Carlos Villanueva (5-2) lost for just the second time in 10 starts since joining the rotation in late May, giving up five runs and eight hits in six innings.
"In the fourth inning, they got aggressive on me and I left the ball up," Villanueva said. "The location was the trouble. I think I should have done a better job of keeping us in there."
The Yankees added a run in the seventh against Luis Perez when Granderson scored on Robinson Cano's sacrifice fly.
Gardner scored New York's first and last runs of the day. He singled, swiped second and scored on Swisher's base hit in the first. He pulled off a similar trick in the ninth, reaching on a walk before stealing second and scoring on Granderson's single.
The Blue Jays tied it at 1 when Edwin Encarnacion hit a leadoff double and scored on Travis Snider's single to left in the second.
NOTES: The Yankees are a major league-best 28-5 in day games. ... Reliever Jason Frasor made his 453rd appearance with the Blue Jays, moving him past Duane Ward into first place on Toronto's list. ... New York recalled OF Chris Dickerson from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and optioned OF Greg Golson to Triple-A.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.