Toronto, ON – Travis Hafner, Vernon Wells and Lyle Overbay all hit solo homers as the New York Yankees powered past Toronto, 9-4, in the opener of a three-game series from Rogers Centre.
Hafner and Wells both finished with two runs batted in, while Brett Gardner and Robinson Cano added an RBI each for the Yankees, who were coming off an interleague series win against Arizona.
Andy Pettitte (3-0) worked 7 1/3 innings, allowing six hits and three runs while fanning five with one walk.
"It's nice when things go like this," said Yankees manager Joe Girardi. "It puts a lot of pressure on the other club when you can score runs from a lot of different places. That way responsibilty doesn't fall on the same guys every night."
Jose Bautista ripped a two-run homer and J.P. Arencibia added a late solo shot for the Blue Jays, who have now dropped three of four.
Brandon Morrow (0-2) was tagged for nine hits and seven runs -- five earned -- with four strikeouts and a walk over 5 1/3 frames.
"I kept falling behind guys in the first few innings and couldn't get into a good rhythm," said Morrow. "I just couldn't locate my fastball tonight and that hurt me."
The Yanks scored twice in their first turn at the plate on an RBI double from Hafner followed by a Wells groundout. Rajai Davis tripled in the home half, then scored on a Melky Cabrera groundout to cut the lead to 2-1.
In the third, Hafner's one-out solo shot boosted the Bronx Bombers to a 3-1 edge. Wells then singled and Ichiro Suzuki doubled, and a wild throw to the plate by Jays center fielder Colby Rasmus on a fly ball from Eduardo Nunez caused two more runs to cross the plate.
Overbay's one-out blast off the facing of the lower deck in center made it 6-1 in the top of the sixth. Francisco Cervelli's ground-rule double preceded a Gardner triple later in the inning, and the latter was plated by a Cano groundout.
After Cabrera singled with two down in the home half, Bautista's drive off the second deck in center made it 8-3.
Wells began the seventh with a shot that cleared the wall in left, and the only answer for the hosts came on Arencibia's shot with two down in the ninth.
Game Notes
Bautista returned to the lineup after a four-game absence due to a sore back, batting third as the designated hitter ... Toronto Raptors forward Amir Johnson threw out the first pitch ... Cano led New York with three hits, while Hafner, Wells, Suzuki and Cervelli all finished with two apiece ... Arencibia and Brett Lawrie were the lone Blue Jays to collect more than one hit.
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