Teixeira homers as Yankees beat Blue Jays 5-3
TORONTO (AP) -- Mark Teixeira hit a two-run home run, Hiroki Kuroda won for the first time in four starts and the New York Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-3 on Wednesday night, snapping their losing streak at four games.
Kuroda (5-5) won for the first time since May 28, at St. Louis, allowing three runs and eight hits in 6 1-3 innings. He walked two and struck out four.
David Robertson got the final five outs for his 18th save in 20 chances.
Things didn't start well for the Yankees as Jose Reyes homered into the second deck on Kuroda's first pitch, his third leadoff blast this season and the 21st of his career. Melky Cabrera followed with a single, but Kuroda struck out Adam Lind and Edwin Encarnacion, then got Dioner Navarro to foul out.
The Yankees took the lead with a four-run third off Blue Jays right-hander Drew Hutchison. Kelly Johnson drew a leadoff walk and scored on Francisco Cervelli's double. Two-outs later, Jacoby Ellsbury hit an RBI single and scored on Teixeira's homer.
Hutchison (5-6) lost for the third time in four starts, allowing four runs and seven hits in six innings. He walked two and struck out six.
Hutchison is 0-3 with a 9.22 ERA in three starts against the Yankees this season.
The Blue Jays cut the deficit to one in the fifth on a two-out, two-run single by Cabrera, but Lind flied out to end the inning.
New York used two walks and a hit batter to load the bases with no outs against reliever Rob Rasmussen in the seventh but only managed to score one run. Teixeira hit a sacrifice fly off Sergio Santos and Carlos Beltran struck out before Ichiro Suzuki walked to load the bases again. Santos escaped by getting Brian Roberts to fly out.
Kuroda left after Anthony Gose grounded into a fielder's choice in the seventh. Shawn Kelley gave up a single to Reyes and got Cabrera to fly out. Matt Thornton came on, Gose and Reyes advanced on a double steal, but Lind ended the inning with a broken-bat grounder to the mound.
NOTES: The Blue Jays selected OF Brad Glenn from Triple-A Buffalo and optioned OF Kevin Pillar to Triple-A. Pillar threw his bat down the dugout steps after he was replaced by a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning Tuesday. ... Encarnacion started at DH after being hit in the back of the head in a collision with Teixeira at first base Tuesday. ... Jeter celebrates his 40th birthday Thursday. ... The Yankees are off Thursday before beginning a three-game series against Boston on Friday. New York's Vidal Nuno (1-4) faces Red Sox RHP Brandon Workman (1-0) in the opener. ... The Blue Jays begin a four-game series against the Chicago White Sox on Thursday. Toronto LHP J.A. Happ (6-4) faces Chicago RHP Scott Carroll (2-3).
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