Toronto, ON – Vernon Wells homered against his former team for the second straight day and started the winning two-run rally in the 11th inning with a single, as the New York Yankees notched a 5-3 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.
Wells led off the 11th against Aaron Loup (1-1) with his third hit of the day and Francisco Cervelli followed with a single. Ichiro Suzuki dropped down a bunt and Loup tried for the force out at third, but threw the ball past a scrambling Brett Lawrie and down the left field line to allow both runners to cross the plate for a 5-3 lead.
Mariano Rivera allowed a leadoff double to Jose Bautista in the bottom of the 11th and Edwin Encarnacion followed with a hard line drive to right field for the first out. Rivera then struck out both J.P. Arencibia and Lawrie to nail down his fifth save.
Kevin Youkilis drove in two runs for the Yankees, who have won the first two of this three-game set and nine of their last 11. Youkilis, though, left the contest with a back issue.
Melky Cabrera tied the game with a two-run single in a three-run Toronto eighth, as the Blue Jays rallied against Yankee reliever David Robertson after New York starter Hiroki Kuroda was brilliant for 7 1/3 innings.
Kuroda, coming off a shutout against Baltimore last Sunday, was charged with one run on three hits with a walk and seven strikeouts.
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