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Burnett silences punchless Yankees

Jul 13, 2008 - 9:49 PM TORONTO (Ticker) -- Unlike Roy Halladay two nights earlier, A.J. Burnett could not complete his shutout bid. He still dominated the New York Yankees.

Burnett scattered six hits in 8 1/3 innings and Marco Scutaro hit a three-run home run Sunday, leading the Toronto Blue Jays to a 4-1 victory over the Yankees.

Pitching on three days' rest before the All-Star break, Burnett (10-8) was bidding for his 10th career shutout, but left after giving up a home run to Jason Giambi and a single to Jorge Posada.

Despite throwing 112 pitches on Wednesday, Burnett hardly labored at all against the Yankees, throwing 69 of his 98 pitches for strikes. He walked one and struck out eight to send the Blue Jays into the break on a high note after an up-and-down first half that included the dismissal of former manager John Gibbons.

"I always wanted to see what it would be like to be in a four-man rotation, like way back in the day, and it's good to see I came out with a good performance," said Burnett, the subject of trade rumors as the July 31 deadline draws closer

Toronto (47-48) won for the fifth time in its last six contests to climb within one game of .500.

"He pitched a great ballgame," Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston said. "Scutaro got a big hit for us and the guys played good defense. It was a team effort to win today."

Any chance of a Yankees' rally in the ninth ended when B.J. Ryan got Robinson Cano to ground into a game-ending double play for his 18th save.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi believed the key for Burnett was pitching ahead in the count.

"When you're 0-1 and 0-2 the whole time, he's throwing the ball at 93-96 (miles per hour)," Girardi said. "He's got a great curveball. It's not an easy guy to get behind."

After managing just two hits against Halladay in Friday's 5-0 loss, the Yankees broke out for nine runs Saturday and were trying to head into the All-Star break on a high note following an inconsistent stretch . But they could not solve Burnett, who needed only 52 pitches to get through five innings, and saw their bats once again go quiet. New York barely avoided its third shutout in the last 10 games.

The Blue Jays did all their damage against Andy Pettitte (10-7) in the second inning. Scott Rolen delivered an RBI single and Scutaro homered two batters later.

The inning was set up when right fielder Bobby Abreu misplayed Kevin Mench's line drive for a leadoff double. Rolen slapped a single to right-center field to give the Blue Jays a 1-0. lead.

Pettitte got himself in more trouble when he walked Adam Lind. The walk came back to haunt him as Scutaro drilled just his third homer of the season over the fence in left field. Pettitte did settle down to get through six innings.

"The pitch (to Scutaro) wasn't going to be a strike," Pettitte said. "Scutaro went down and got it and lifted it."

The Yankees had a chance in the sixth, putting runners on first and second with one out, but Giambi flied out and Posada struck out.

New York, which is just 10-12 in its last 22 contests, reached the break six games behind the first-place Boston Red Sox in the American League East.