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Swisher's slam helps Yankees down Blue Jays

Sep 21, 2012 - 5:23 AM Bronx, NY (Sports Network) - Nick Swisher capped New York's seven-run fourth inning with a grand slam, and the Yankees held on for a 10-7 win over the Toronto Blue Jays to take all three games in the series.

Ichiro Suzuki, a day after going 7-for-8 in New York's doubleheader sweep on Wednesday, homered and drove in three runs in the club's fifth straight win.

"To see him get on a roll...is a lot fun to watch," Swisher said of Suzuki. "Whatever he's doing or whatever he's eating, I just want him to keep it going."

Phil Hughes (16-12) struck out nine in five-innings and allowed four runs on four hits and three walks, as the Yankees increased their lead atop the AL East to one game over the idle Baltimore Orioles.

Moises Sierra homered and drove in three for the Blue Jays, who have dropped seven of their last nine.

Aaron Laffey (3-6) was touched for five runs -- four earned -- on two hits and five walks over three-plus innings to take the loss.

Toronto jumped in front on Kelly Johnson's RBI double in the second frame and added another run an inning later when Sierra was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

But Hughes struck out Johnson to leave the bags full in the third, and Suzuki sparked the Yankees' offense with a leadoff blast in the bottom half.

In the fourth, two walks and Johnson's error loaded the bases for Suzuki, who lined a hanging breaking ball to right to knock in Russell Martin and Curtis Granderson.

The double ended Laffey's outing, and Brad Lincoln had little success in relief, walking Jayson Nix and allowing an RBI single to Derek Jeter before Swisher strolled to the plate.

Swisher blew the game open by sending Lincoln's 96-m.p.h. fastball into the right-field seats for the Yankees' club record-tying 10th grand slam this season -- three coming from Swisher.

Adam Lind walked prior to Sierra's homer in the fifth, but the Yankees got the runs back in the home half, which began with Granderson's routine pop up falling between Johnson and Sierra for a double. Nix and Jeter each had run- scoring hits with two outs to make it 10-4.

The Jays scored three times in the eighth, which began with Johnson homering off Cory Wade.

"We continued to battle back, even after the seven-run fourth inning," Blue Jays manager John Farrell said.

Wade was pulled with runners on second and third and one out, and Joba Chamberlain gave up an RBI infield single to Brett Lawrie and a run- scoring fielder's choice grounder to Mike McCoy.

Lind flied out to leave two runners on, and David Robertson struck out the Jays in order in the ninth to earn his second save of the season.

Rafael Soriano, who had earned saves in both games on Wednesday, was unavailable to pitch for New York.

Game Notes

Swisher has seven career grand slams ... The Yankees also hit 10 grand slams in 2011, '10 and 1987 ... Toronto's pitching staff had gone 34 consecutive innings without allowing a homer before Suzuki went deep ... Suzuki has raised his average seven points (.272 to .279) over the last three games ... Laffey has not picked up a win since Aug. 5, going 0-4 in eight appearances since, six of those starts ... The Yankees next host the Athletics for three games.