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Four-run sixth buoys Yankees past Blue Jays

Aug 7, 2007 - 2:23 AM TORONTO (Ticker) -- The New York Yankees' high-powered offense made sure eight was enough for the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday.

A four-run sixth inning propelled the Yankees to a 5-4 victory over the Blue Jays on Monday afternoon, snapping Toronto's eight-game winning streak at Rogers Centre.

New York (62-50), which is 18-7 since the All-Star break, remains a half-game behind Detroit (62-49) in the American League wild card standings. The Tigers defeated the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 6-4, on Monday night.

With Toronto leading, 3-1, in the sixth, Bobby Abreu walked and Alex Rodriguez singled to chase Blue Jays rookie starter Jesse Litsch. Litsch allowed three runs on six hits in five innings.

The Yankees then greeted reliever Scott Downs (1-2) with an offensive onslaught.

After Hideki Matsui's single to left field plated Abreu, Robinson Cano belted a two-run double and Melky Cabrera brought him home with a single to cap the scoring and give New York a 5-3 lead.

"I'm happy because we were down by one run," Cano said. "It was a two-RBI double, it was key to the game."

Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez was quick to praise both Cano and Cabrera.

"Collectively, those guys have given us a lot of energy, a lot of big hits, great defense. I don't know where this team would be without those two guys," Rodriguez said.

The five runs, ironically, is almost a power outage for the Yankees. After scoring 31 runs in a three-game series sweep of the Kansas City Royals, New York has scored seven or more runs in 12 of its last 16 games.

Yankees starter Andy Pettitte (8-7) wasn't dominant but effective in his 5 2/3 innings, improving to 11-4 in his career in Toronto. The veteran lefthander allowed three runs and six hits while striking out seven and walking four.

"It was a struggle for me again. My command hasn't been real good, I've kind just been battling through it," said Pettitte, who tied Waite Hoyt for eighth all-time on the Yankees' career wins list with (157). "(I was) thankful I was able to keep us in the game, somewhat. The offense did a great job and got us a big inning."

After Jim Brower recorded the final out of the sixth, Luis Vizcaino pitched two innings, allowing a solo homer to Aaron Hill to cut the Yankees' lead to 5-4.

Mariano Rivera struck out the side in the ninth for his 18th save.

"You have to live up to the challenge," Rivera said. "There's no room for mistakes, we have to be aggressive and that's what we did today."

The Yankees started the scoring in the third inning after Johnny Damon's groundout plated Cabrera, who tripled to extend his hitting streak to 12 games.

The Blue Jays responded in their half of the frame courtesy of Frank Thomas' two-run double, which plated Reed Johnson and Alex Rios.

Johnson feels the Blue Jays sometimes press too hard at the plate.

"I think guys recognize that that's been a problem all year," Johnson said. "It's one thing that we've been pounding on each other about. It's definitely a case of guys maybe trying to hard. We got to get back to just relaxing at the plate."

Toronto extended its lead to 3-1 in the fifth thanks to Vernon Wells' run-scoring single.

Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said the sixth inning was the difference.

"It was a game that could have gone either way," Gibbons said. "They're the hottest team out there since the All-Star break. We hung tough, but that big four-run inning cost us."