Toronto, ON – Rajai Davis drove in five runs and made a superb defensive play, as the Toronto Blue Jays avoided being swept in back- to-back series with a 10-7 win over the visiting New York Yankees.
Edwin Encarnacion punctuated a six-run fourth inning with his 30th homer of the season for the Blue Jays, who snapped a five-game losing streak.
"Finally a good offensive day," said Blue Jays manager John Farrell. "In the fourth and fifth innings, we were able to finally create some separation on the offensive side."
J.A. Happ (1-1) took the hill for the second time as a starter in a Toronto uniform and gave up four runs on six hits over 5 2/3 innings.
Derek Jeter collected three hits and knocked in two runs, and Robinson Cano added a two-run homer for New York, which had won four in a row and five straight against Toronto.
Yankees starter Phil Hughes (11-10) was tagged for seven runs on nine hits over four frames. He hasn't won on the road since June 15 at Washington, dropping four consecutive outings.
"I was trying to get the ball down and away and a lot of pitches were running back and it was hard to find good counts and sequences to get through the inning," said Hughes of the fourth. "To know that I personally gave that game away early is tough to live with."
Hughes was relieved by Ryota Igarashi -- recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Sunday -- and the Japanese right-hander allowed two singles and issued a walk, loading the bases with two outs in the fifth. Davis then cleared them by doubling into the left-field corner for a 10-1 Toronto advantage.
But the Yankees chipped away by scoring three runs in each of the next two innings.
Jeter and Cano both homered to right off Happ in the sixth, prompting a pitching change. Brad Lincoln recorded the final out but couldn't complete the seventh.
After Curtis Granderson led off with an infield single, Davis climbed the left-field wall to rob Casey McGehee of a two-run homer. Lincoln then retired Russell Martin on a ground ball to second before giving up RBI doubles to Jayson Nix and Jeter, who scored a base hit by Nick Swisher.
Darren Oliver replaced Lincoln and eventually got Andruw Jones to bounce into a fielder's choice with the bases loaded.
Oliver tossed a 1-2-3 eighth and Casey Janssen duplicated the feat in the ninth to notch his 15th save.
David Cooper plated Encarnacion with a two-out single in the first and Jeff Mathis doubled home Moises Sierra to spark Toronto's offensive surge in the fourth.
Anthony Gose drew a one-out walk and scored along with Mathis on Davis' two- out double. Mike McCoy then knocked in Davis with a grounder to deep short and Encarnacion followed with a two-run blast to left.
McGehee put New York on the board with an RBI double in the fifth.
Game Notes
Cano tied Tony Lazzeri (169) for the most home runs by a second baseman in Yankees history...The Blue Jays haven't been swept at home by the Yankees in a series of at least three games since March 31-April 2, 2003.
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