Game 77: Losing isn't fun, so let's stop it tonight

Coming off of a fourth straight loss on Tuesday night, the Yankees are looking to rebound tonight in the finale of a three-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays, who took the second game of this series with a walk-off win on Tuesday, claiming a 7-6 win after Yangervis Solarte's wide throw to first base on a Melky Cabrera bunt scored Jose Reyes from second base to win the game.

The Yankees have now lost four straight going back to Saturday's game against the Baltimore Orioles, and currently stand 3.5 games behind Toronto in the AL East.

The Yankees, who somehow rallied back from a six run deficit last night thanks to a couple of homeruns by Derek Jeter and Brian Roberts, would like to escape the Rogers Centre with a win tonight ahead of tomorrow's off-day, and Friday night's series opener against the Boston Red Sox, in which Vidal Nuno will be on the mound for the Bombers (yikes).

Tonight's lineup against Toronto:

LF Brett Gardner
SS Derek Jeter
CF Jacoby Ellsbury
1B Mark Teixeira
DH Carlos Beltran
RF Ichiro Suzuki
2B Brian Roberts
3B Kelly Johnson
C Francisco Cervelli

* Beltran felt some tightness in his right arm over the weekend, so the Yankees will shut down his throwing program, and he'll stick to being a full-time DH for the time being. The Yankees signed Beltran to a three-year, $45 million contract over the winter, and so far, I'd say it's not off to a great start.

* CC Sabathia will make his first rehab start on Saturday with High-A Tampa Yankees, according to manager Joe Girardi. Sabathia will throw about 40-45 pitches down in Tampa after throwing two innings on Tuesday with "no issues."

"It's good, he'll start again on Saturday," said Girardi. "Forty to 45 pitches. ... Everything came out well. Obviously, you're curious to see how he feels tomorrow, but he felt it was successful."

Pitching matchup preview:

Hiroki Kuroda will be the named tasked with trying to stop the Yankees' losing skid tonight. Kuroda's was pitching very well in his last start, against the Baltimore Orioles on Friday, when he took a no-hitter in the the 6th inning before losing both that and the shutout in a span of four batters.

Kuroda is facing Toronto for the first time this season. He is 4-2 with a 2.82 ERA (44.2 IP, 14 ER) in his last seven starts against the Blue Jays, and is 4-3 with a 3.81 ERA in his last eight starts overall.

On the mound for the Blue Jays tonight is the right-hander Drew Hutchinson, who is looking to rebound after his last start against the Yankees after allowed four runs on six hits and was removed from the game in the fifth inning last week in the Bronx.

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