Toronto, ON – Brett Lawrie keyed a four-run sixth with a two- run double and a run scored, as the Toronto Blue Jays rallied for an 8-4 win over the New York Yankees to salvage the finale of a three-game set at Rogers Centre.
Melky Cabrera went 3-for-4 with an RBI single and J.P. Arencibia chipped in a double and a two-run homer for the Jays, who won for just the second time in their last six games.
"Very exciting, that's a great win for our team to go on the road and hopefully carry that on," Lawrie said. "It was a tough couple of games the past couple of days, but obviously today was a new day and we capitalized on that. It was great."
Vernon Wells, Robinson Cano, Brett Gardner, Jayson Nix and Chris Stewart each had two hits for New York, which lost for just the third time in its last 12 games. Wells finished 7-for-15 with a pair of homers in the series against his former team.
"Our goal is to take every series and if you do that you'll be in good shape come September," said Yankees manager Joe Girardi. "This isn't how we wanted to end (this series), but this is a tough place to play and our guys did a good job."
Ivan Nova started for the Yankees and his spot in the rotation could be in jeopardy after another shaky outing. He didn't take the loss, but was charged with four runs on seven hits and four walks in five-plus innings.
"I know I can do better than this," said Nova. "I have to keep working and get my command where I want it to."
Nova was given a 4-2 lead heading to the bottom of the sixth, but couldn't get an out.
Adam Lind led off with a walk, one of four he drew for the game, and Arencibia doubled him to third, ending the Yankee right-hander's afternoon. Boone Logan (0-1) came on and yielded a broken-bat single to Colby Rasmus, chasing home Lind and leaving runners on the corners.
Lawrie then greeted David Phelps with a double just over the bag at third, allowing both runners to cross the plate, and Cabrera's two-out single knocked in Lawrie with the fourth run of the inning for a 6-4 Toronto lead.
"I thought he threw the ball pretty well today, but that's an inning where we need him to get some outs," Girardi said about Nova in the sixth.
Arencibia extended the margin to four runs in the seventh with his seventh home run of the season, a blast off Phelps over the center field wall.
The rally made a winner of Brett Cecil (1-0), who surrendered one hit and struck out two in 1 1/3 innings of relief.
Josh Johnson started for Toronto and was tagged for four runs on eight hits with three walks and four strikeouts over 5 1/3 innings. The right-hander, acquired from Miami in the blockbuster offseason trade, now has a 6.86 ERA in four starts this season.
Toronto grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first when Munenori Kawasaki led off with a single, took third on a base hit by Cabrera and scored on Edwin Encarnacion's fielder's choice.
Rasmus started the second with a double and took third on an infield hit by Lawrie before scoring the second run on Kawasaki's lineout to left field.
The Yankees got one back in the third when Stewart led off with his first home run of the season, lacing a 3-2 pitch off the screen on the left field foul pole. New York went on to put runners on second and third with two outs, but Johnson got Lyle Overbay on a grounder to second.
Wells made a leaping catch at the wall on a drive by Encarnacion in the third inning to rob an extra-base hit and the Yankees also managed to double Jose Bautista off first on the play.
The Yankees then took advantage of Johnson's wildness to move in front in the fifth. Stewart led off with a single and one-out base hits by Cano and Wells loaded the bases for Travis Hafner, who fouled out. Overbay, though, drew a walk on a 3-2 pitch and Eduardo Nunez followed with a four-pitch walk to force in the go-ahead run.
Gardner gave New York a two-run edge in the sixth with a sacrifice fly.
Game Notes
The Blue Jays had lost each of Johnson's first three starts ... The Yankees were 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position and stranded nine ... Gardner went 2-for-4 and extended his hitting streak to eight games. He is a career .370 hitter in 30 games at Rogers Centre ... The Blue Jays were 3-4 on a seven-game homestand and head to Baltimore to start a three-game series on Monday, then will visit the Bronx for a four-game set next weekend ... The Yankees continue a six-game road trip on Monday with the start of a three-game series against Tampa Bay.
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