Rough start, good finish for Kuroda.

The trend of bad 1st innings from a Yankees starting pitcher continued on Thursday after a 2-out walk to Jose Bautista led to a Edwin Encarnacion HR to give the Blue Jays an early 2-0 lead.

Brett Lowrie added to that score in the 2nd with a solo homerun to the short porch in right, to pull ahead 3-0 for Mark Burehle.

Burehle was working well until the 2nd inning when Vernon Wells shot a deep flyball into monument park, putting the Yankees on the board, 3-1.

Next inning with two on base Robinson Cano blasted his 7th homer of the season, pulling the Yankees ahead 4-3. Francisco Cervelli added another solo homerun an inning later.

That run support was all the Hiroki Kuroda need after he rebounded from a shaky first couple of innings, the go 6 strong, allowing 3 runs on 6 hits, 1 walk, and 3 strikeouts.

"This might just be his best performance of the season." Said Joe Girardi. Even without any of his pitches, Kuroda found away to shut down the Jays and make outs.

After surrendering 6 hits in the 1st two innings, the Blue Jays were unable to get a hit off Kuroda while he had retired 14 of the last 15 batters he faced.

"Considering how it started," Kuroda said, "I think I was able to put together a decent outing."

Kuroda's counterpart Burehle went 5.1 innings, surrendering 5 runs on 7 hits, while striking out 3. He's now 0-2 against the Yankees this season.

The Yankees bullpen made easy work of the Blue Jays. With Joba, Robertson, and Mariano Rivera tossing 3 scoreless innings, allowing only 1 combined hit, sealing a 5-3 Yankees win.

The win makes the Yankees 3-1 against the struggling Blue Jays this season. Game 2 of this series will take place tomorrow night in the Bronx with Ivan Nova and Josh Johnson facing off at 7:05 ET.

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