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Yankees hold on to defeat Blue Jays

May 1, 2011 - 1:34 AM Bronx, NY (Sports Network) - A.J. Burnett was good enough to get the win against his former team, pitching six innings as the Yankees beat the Blue Jays, 5-4, to even their three-game series.

Burnett (4-1) gave up four runs and nine hits, striking out four and walking none before handing the ball to the bullpen.

Joba Chamberlain and Rafael Soriano tossed two scoreless innings and Mariano Rivera worked around Jose Molina's two-out double in the ninth to earn his ninth save.

No one on the Yankees scored more than once, and nobody had more than one hit, but they went 4-for-9 with runners in scoring position and touched Toronto starter Kyle Drabek for all five of their runs and all seven of their hits.

"Obviously, crucial hits were big for us," said Yankees right fielder Nick Swisher.

Drabek (2-1) pitched just 2 1/3 innings, walking four and striking out four in the shortest outing of the 23-year-old's young career.

"I think there was some frustration out there with the zone command and maybe the strike zone at times, but that's part of being at this level," said Blue Jays manager John Farrell.

Relievers Jason Frasor, Shawn Camp, Marc Rzepczynski and Frank Francisco allowed just two baserunners after Drabek's exit, but both were retired on double plays.

Mike McCoy hit a solo homer for the Blue Jays, who suffered just their second loss in six games.

Burnett, who went 38-26 for the Blue Jays from 2006-08, allowed a run in just seven pitches after Rajai Davis hit a leadoff triple and scored on Yunel Escobar's ground out in the first inning.

But the Yankees sent eight players to the plate and scored three runs in the second to move ahead for good. Russell Martin and Curtis Granderson had RBI singles during the rally and Derek Jeter hit a sacrifice fly.

Escobar scored in the third inning after reaching on a one-out single, moving to third on Jose Bautista's double and coming home on Adam Lind's sac fly to left.

Again, the Yankees came back by sending eight more batters to the plate in the bottom of the third. They scored just two runs -- Eric Chavez plated Robinson Cano with a single, then scored later on Brett Gardner's base hit -- despite three hits, two walks and a wild pitch from Drabek.

"Any way you can get the runs to come across, it doesn't matter how you do it whether you get home runs or you get a couple little base hits like we did today," said Granderson. "A run's a run."

Gardner's hit knocked Drabek out. Frasor worked the next 1 2/3 innings, allowing a leadoff walk to Mark Teixeira in the fourth, but getting Swisher on a ground-out double play to end the inning.

New York's only other baserunner came in the seventh, when Rzepczynski hit Cano with a pitch. Swisher popped into a double play two pitches later.

McCoy homered leading off the fifth and the Blue Jays got their last run in the sixth when Lind led off with a single, moved to third on Juan Rivera's double and scored on David Cooper's sac fly.

Game Notes

The Yankees improved to 3-3 on a seven-game homestand, while Toronto fell to 4-2 on its 10-game road trip...Burnett improved to 2-4 against the Blue Jays...Toronto won the first game of the series, 5-3, on Friday.