The Toronto Blue Jays hope they can finally steal one from the New York Yankees as the American League East rivals square off in the finale of a three-game set in the Bronx.
New York continued its recent mastery of the Jays on Saturday, as Robinson Cano launched a pair of two-run homers to back a solid outing from David Phelps in the Yankees' 7-2 win.
New York has outscored Toronto, 12-2, through the first two games of the series and has won eight of its nine games against the Blue Jays this season.
Cano now has 12 multi-home runs in his career and leads the team in runs scored (25) and extra-base hits (23).
"Any place you put him, he's going to be successful. You can move him around," said Yankees manager Joe Girardi on Cano. "He's done a nice job adjusting to the two-hole for us. He's got 31 RBIs, and he's hit second a lot for us. It doesn't really matter where he hits. He's going to get his numbers. And that really helps us out that he has that versatility."
Travis Hafner also provided some power on Saturday with a two-run home run in the eighth inning. Phelps overcame early struggles to toss a career-high seven innings. He gave up one run on six hits and matched a personal best with eight strikeouts.
New York will send CC Sabathia out to the hill in the finale as it aims for another sweep of Toronto. Sabathia took his second straight no decision on Tuesday after lasting 6 1/3 innings and striking out 10 Mariners. The veteran left-hander is 4-3 with a 3.19 ERA in nine starts on the season.
Toronto will counter with R.A. Dickey, who struck out 10 batters while limiting San Francisco to two earned runs his last time out.
"I felt like I grew into the outing," said Dickey, who reached double digits in strikeouts for the first time this season, while recording his team-leading sixth quality start. "Early on, I was feeling for it a little bit. As I got into the later innings, the fourth, the fifth, the sixth, I felt a lot better with it and felt like I had a pretty good knuckleball today. I was getting a lot of swings and misses. I was in the strike zone for the most part outside of those two walks. Was pretty pleased."
The 2012 NL Cy Young Award winner is still only 3-5 with a 4.83 ERA in his first year with the club. Dickey will have trouble finding his fourth win if Toronto's offense continues to struggle. The Jays went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position as they tied a franchise record with their ninth consecutive loss in the Bronx dating back to last season.
Edwin Encarnacion hit a solo home run in the eighth inning on Saturday for Toronto, which was guilty of two errors. Melky Cabrera went 1-for-4, but his lone hit extended his streak of games with a double to five.
The Yankees swept a four-game set from the Jays the last time these teams met in the Bronx and have won 18 of the last 20 meetings at home in this series.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.