R.A. Dickey pitched seven innings to win his fourth straight decision, Colby Rasmus and Rajai Davis homered and the Toronto Blue Jays beat New York 2-0 on Tuesday night, the slumping Yankees' fourth straight loss.

Alfonso Soriano, New York Yankees
Alfonso Soriano of the New York Yankees hits a double in the first inning during game action against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Tom Szczerbowski, Getty Images)
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New York, which came in 2 1-2 games behind Texas in the AL wild card race, lost for the eighth time in 12 games. The Yankees have 11 games remaining.

Dickey (13-12) allowed four hits, walked two and struck out eight. The knuckleballer retired the final 11 batters he faced and 15 of the last 16.

Dickey has not lost since the Yankees beat him in the Bronx on Aug. 21. He's 4-0 with a 2.73 ERA in five starts since.

Sergio Santos pitched the eighth and Casey Janssen finished in the ninth for his 31st save in 33 chances.

Alex Rodriguez returned to New York's lineup after leaving Sunday's loss at Boston in the fifth inning with a strained right calf. He's also dealing with a sore left hamstring suffered in last Tuesday's win at Baltimore. Rodriguez started as the DH, batting second. He finished 0 for 4 and struck out looking twice.

Rasmus hammered a one-out blast into the second deck off Andy Pettitte in the fourth, his 21st of the season and third in three games.

Rasmus, who sat out Sunday's loss to Baltimore with general soreness, has connected every game since being activated off the 15-day disabled list Friday. He had been out since Aug. 11 with a strained muscle in his left side.

Pettitte (10-10) came in 3-0 with a 1.77 ERA against the Blue Jays this season but couldn't extend his run of dominance against the AL East's last-place team. He allowed one run and six hits in 6 2-3 innings, walked two and struck out five.

Davis greeted reliever Shawn Kelley by homering into the second deck on the right-hander's second pitch. For Davis, the home run was his sixth.

Robinson Cano hit a two-out single in the first, his first hit since Friday, and Alfonso Soriano followed with a double. Lyle Overbay walked to load the bases, but Dickey fanned Mark Reynolds for the final out.

New York stranded two more runners in the second when Chris Stewart walked with two outs and Curtis Granderson singled him to second. Rodriguez followed with a grounder to short.

Dickey, who threw 51 pitches in the first and second innings, retired 15 of the next 16 Yankees and erased his only mistake, Reynolds' leadoff single in the fourth, on a double play.

Pinch-hitter Adam Lind hit a two-out single off David Robertson in the eighth and tried to score on pinch-hitter Anthony Gose's double, but was thrown out at the plate on a relay from shortstop Brendan Ryan.

(Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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