NEW YORK (Reuters) - The New York Yankees persevered for a 7-6 extra innings win over the Toronto Blue Jays Sunday despite a second blown save of the season by closer Mariano Rivera.
Robinson Cano led off the bottom of the 10th inning with a walk and later scored the game-winning run on a broken bat single by pinch hitter Marcus Thames.
The Yankees, with owner George Steinbrenner celebrating his 80th birthday, looked poised for victory after taking a 6-5 lead in the seventh inning and as Rivera came to the mound at the bottom of the ninth.
But the Blue Jays forced extras when Lyle Overbay led off with a single and scored his second run of the game on a single by Dewayne Wise.
"You don't want to go out there and do what I did, especially after the guys gave me the opportunity to be there," Rivera told reporters. "It was one of those days, where the balls find the holes."
The game featured several exciting plays and an inside-the-park home run in the sixth by Brett Gardner that leveled the score at 5-5.
The Blue Jays erased a 3-1 deficit in the fifth with a three-run homer off the bat of Wise that hit the right field foul pole, and threw out two Yankees runners at the plate on successive hits in the bottom half of the inning.
The Blue Jays threw out another runner at the plate in the bottom of the seventh as the Yankees strived to improve their 6-5 lead.
Relief pitcher David Robertson picked up his first win of the season for New York and David Purcey was tagged with the loss for Toronto.
Yankees catcher Jorge Posada left the game in the seventh inning after a foul tip hit him on his catching hand.
(Reporting by Mike Mouat in Windsor, Ontario. Editing by Justin Palmer/Ian Ransom)
