Yankees 3, Blue Jays 4: Toronto powers their way past New York with three homeruns

The Yankees got their hits today, but it wasn't enough for them to beat the Toronto Blue Jays, who used three homeruns to power their way past New York, 4-3, in the finale of this three-game series on Sunday afternoon at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

Brett Gardner put the Yankees up 1-0 just two pitches into the game with a solo homerun to right field off of Blue Jays starter JA Happ to lead off the ballgame.

The Yankees doubled their lead in the top of the 4th inning to make it a 2-0 game. Martin Prado singled to open the frame; after a couple of outs, Chase Headley and Francisco Cervelli hit back-to-back singles, the later scoring Prado for the game's second run.

Gardner continued his great day at the plate the very next inning, slapping a triple into the left-center field gap. Jose Reyes' relay throw to third base sailed into the Jays' dugout, giving Gardner homeplate free of charge, extending the Yankees' lead to 3-0.

Gardner would go on to double in his next at-bat, needing just a single to reach the cycle. He wouldn't get it though, grounding out to second base in his final at-bat of the game, in the 9th inning.

Yankees starter Brandon McCarthy was cruising along through the first five innings, giving up just two hits -- he even struck out the side in the 5th. His stuff was looking good and his was putting together another great start, but that was until Melky Cabrera and Jose Bautista hit back-to-back solo homeruns to quickly make it a one run game, at 3-2.

Then to open the bottom half of the 7th, Edwin Encarnacion tied the game with a solo blast to left field off of McCarthy, who walked the next batter before Joe Girardi ended his day and brought in Dellin Betances to get out of the inning. Betances got out of the inning, but not before Steve Tolleson, who pinch-ran for Dioner Navarro then stole second base, scored on a single to right field by Munenori Kawasaki, just barley making it into the plate before the tag could be applied by Cervelli.

McCarthy was charged with all four runs on five hits. He walked a pair and stuck out three on 90 pitches in six-plus innings.

After working out of the 7th, Betances came back out for the 8th inning and worked around a two-out single by Adam Lind to toss a scoreless inning. In all, he tossed 29 pitches.

Starting the game on the bench with a slightly injured ankle, Jacoby Ellsbury pinch-hit for Zelous Wheeler with one out in the top of the 9th inning, and doubled into shallow right field to put a runner on second base. Ichiro Suzuki pinch-ran for Ellsbury, and moved to third on the Gardner groundout. And then batting for the final time in Toronto, Derek Jeter lined out to second base to end the game.

After finishing up this seven-game road trip in which they went 3-4, the Yankees head back home to the Bronx, where they will open up a three-game series with the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium.

Shane Greene will face off against Joe Kelley in that Tuesday night matchup at 7:05 p.m. ET.

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Game 134: More than one hit today, please

One step forward, two steps back. That seems to be the way to describe the Yankees' struggling offense this past week. After scoring eight run against the Royals on Monday, they were limited to just two runs the next day in Detroit. They put up eight more runs, all in the 3rd inning against David Price, on Wednesday, then scored just two on Thursday.

And then they came into Toronto, where a five-run 7th inning on Friday night gave them a series opening win over the Blue Jays, only to collect one hit the very next day in a 2-0 loss.

Today, with Jacoby Ellsbury still out due to an ankle sprain, as Joe Girardi called it yesterday, the Yankees will look to take the rubber match of this three-game series in Toronto, as the Bombers wrap up their seven-game road trip this afternoon at 1:07 p.m. ET.

Today's lineup against Toronto:

CF Brett Gardner
DH Derek Jeter
2B Martin Prado
1B Mark Teixeira
RF Carlos Beltran
3B Chase Headley
C Francisco Cervelli
SS Stephen Drew
LF Zelous Wheeler

Pitching matchup preview:

The Yankees' ace of the past month and a half, Brandon McCarthy, take gets the ball for Joe Girardi's club this afternoon, as the right-hander is looking to bounce back from his worst start since joining the Bombers, when five runs on nine hits in 6 1/3 innings in a loss to the Tigers.

"I've thrown well enough to get through outings where I haven't been as sharp, and today, that's the disappointment," McCarthy said after the Detroit outing. "I'd like to be able to fight back. You know days like this you're going to give up some runs, especially against a good team like that. You'd like to be able to limit it a little bit more."

McCarthy, who has posted a 1.90 ERA (11 earned runs in 52 innings) since joining the Yankees, is 1-2 with a 4.28 ERA in seven career appearances (four starts) against the Blue Jays.

He'll be going up against Blue Jays left-hander JA Happ, who is still looking for his first win since July 22, when he beat the Boston Red Sox. Happ has not been pitching well lately, having given up 11 runs in his last 15 1/3 innings.

This'll be Happ's second start this season against the Yankees, who hit him for three runs (two earned) on four hits, including a pair of homeruns, in 5 1/3 innings at Yankee Stadium back in July.

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Yankees 0, Blue Jays 2: Yankees get one-hit for the first time since 2009

The Yankees have beaten Drew Hucthinson three times this season, but on Saturday afternoon, the Bombers were only able to collect one hit in seven innings against the Blue Jays' right-hander in a 2-0 loss at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

A two-run homerun in the 1st inning by Jose Bautista off of Yankees starter Michael Pineda turned out to be the difference-maker in this one, as the Jays rebounded from last night's loss to take the middle game of this three-game series.

After an offensive outbreak last night, and a couple of times in Detroit this past week, the Yankees' offense showed more of what we have been seeing all season long.

The Yankees didn't get their first baserunner of the game against Hutchinson until Carlos Beltran was hit by a pitch with two outs in the 4th inning. Their first hit came a batter later when Mark Teixeira doubled to deep right-center field, putting runners on second and third. Hutchinson then hit Brian McCann to load the bases, but the Yankees wouldn't get anything out of it when Martin Prado flew out to end the inning.

Teixeira's double was the only hit of the game. They only had two more bases runners after the 4th inning, on walks by Beltran and Stephen Drew.

Hutchinson struck out nine and walked just two in his seven one-hit innings. In all, the Bombers struck out 12 times, as they were one-hit for the first time since former Blue Jays pitcher Roy Halladay did it to them on September 4, 2009.

Pitching-wise, the Yankees had a good game. They got six innings of two-run ball from Pineda, who gave up seven hits and struck out three. Shawn Kelley and David Huff both tossed scoreless innings out of the bullpen in the 7th and 8th.

The Yankees and Blue Jays conclude this series tomorrow afternoon at 1:07 p.m. ET. Brandon McCarthy gets the ball for New York, going up against lefty JA Happ.

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Game 133: Just 30 games left

The Yankees are at that point in the season in which they can't afford to lose very many ballgames anymore. They took home a big win over the Toronto Blue Jays last night, scoring five runs in the 7th inning to take a 5-1 lead, as they would go on to win 6-3.

The Yankees now stand seven games back of the Baltimore Orioles in the AL East, and three games back of the Detroit Tigers for the second wild card spot with just 30 games left to play this season.

Today's lineup against Toronto:

CF Brett Gardner
SS Derek Jeter
DH Carlos Beltran
1B Mark Teixeira
C Brian McCann
LF Martin Prado
2B Stephen Drew
3B Chase Headley
RF Ichiro Suzuki

* Jacoby Ellsbury gets the day off after hurting his ankle in last night's win. He was seen hobbling around by reporters with his ankle taped. I'm guessing he'll be out for a couple more day.

Pitching matchup: Michael Pineda vs Drew Hutchinson

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Yankees claim Esmil Rodgers off of waivers from the Toronto Blue Jays

With trade rumors and fake Twitter accounts taking over the internet today, the Yankees have made a move -- not a trade, however -- just two hours away from the 4 pm deadline.

The Yankees have claimed right-hander Esmil Rogers off waivers from the Blue Jays, according to the YES Network's Jack Curry.

Rogers has been designated for assignment by the Toronto Blue Jays for the second time this season earlier in the week. He only appeared in 16 games for the big league squad, posting a 6.97 ERA with a 59 ERA+ and 1.65 WHIP in 20.2 innings this season.

I'd have to guess that he'll go down to Triple-A Scranton and just be some extra pitching depth in case the Yankees ever need it. Wouldn't rule out him joining the Bombers in Boston this weekend, though, after the bullpen put in a lot of work in Texas this week.

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Yankees 4, Blue Jays 5: Yanks end homestand with loss to Toronto

Coming off of a tough loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday, in which the Jays ended a 17-game losing streak in the Bronx, the Yankees sent rookie right-hander Shane Greene to the mound in the final game of a 10-game homestand.

The Yankees fell behind early, tied it up, fell behind again, tied it up again, then fell behind again, as they couldn't come back one more time, falling to the Blue Jays, 5-4, on a sunny Sunday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.

Toronto never scored more than one run in an inning, and wasted no time getting on the board in the 1st. Jose Reyes reached on an infield single to open the game, then Melky Cabrera doubled off of Greene to put runners on first and second base for Jose Bautista, who grounded out to the first baseman, Brian McCann, to give the Jays a 1-0 lead.

Greene was a little more calm on the mound after the first inning, and didn't concede another run until Juan Francisco blasted a solo homerun in the 5th inning, extending the Jays' lead to 2-0.

The Yankees finally got to Blue Jays starter JA Happ in the bottom half of the 5th, using back-to-back one-out homeruns from Chase Headley -- his first since joining the Bombers -- and Francisco Cervelli to tie the game at 2-2.

The Blue Jays added one more run against Greene in the 6th on an RBI double by Colby Rasmus, bringing in Dan Johnson, who singled to left a batter earlier, putting the Jays back up by a run. Rasmus was the final hitter that Greene would face, as Joe Girardi brought in David Huff to get out of the 6th, which he did by retiring the next two hitters. Greene was charged with three runs on eight hits, with two walks and two strikeouts.

After falling behind in the top half of the inning, the Yankees answered back with a run to tie the game again in the bottom of the 6th. Derek Jeter collected a one-out single ahead of Jacoby Ellsbury, who walked to force Happ out of the game. Brett Cecil came on for the Jays to face Carlos Beltran, who grounded into a fielder's choice at third base for the second out of the inning. A batter later, McCann hit a groundball over to second base, but the low throw to first got away from the first baseman, letting Ellsbury to score with everybody safe.

After Dellin Betances worked out of a bases loaded jam unharmed in the 7th inning, he walked Rasmus to open the 8th inning. Rasmus moved over to third base when Betances' attempted pickoff throw went wild, running down the first base side. And sure enough, Munenori Kawasaki hit a sac-fly to left to score Rasmus, putting the Jays up 4-3.

Beltran, for the time being, saved the day to put even the score once more on a two-out RBI single into center field, scoring Brett Gardner, who singled to open the inning before moving over to second on a sac-bunt by Jeter.

However, David Robertson, who hadn't given up a run since his ugly blown save against the Minnesota Twins on June 1, let in the go-ahead run for the Jays in the 9th. Bautista grounded into a fielder's choice, stole second base, then scored on an RBI double by Dioner Navarro.

After a 7-1 start to the homestand, losing the last two games to the Blue Jays makes things seem a lot worse than they really were. The Yankees will now hit the road for a week, and begin a three-game series in Texas tomorrow with David Phelps and Yu Darvish on the mound for their respective teams.

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Game 104: Starting a new streak

The Toronto Blue Jays finally ended their miserable run at Yankee Stadium on Saturday, defeating the Yankees in the Bronx for the first time since August, 2012, ending the Yankees' 17-game home winning streak over the Jays.

So now the Yankees -- 7-2 since the All-Star break -- will be looking to start a new streak against the Jays, who now have some more confidence that they can, in fact, beat the Yankees at Yankee Stadium.

This is the final game of the 10-game homestand to open up the second half of the season. After today, the Yankees will hit the road and make a stop on Texas on Monday to meet the Rangers for three games down in Arlington, then head back north for a three-game set at Fenway Park.

Today's lineup against Toronto:

LF Brett Gardner
SS Derek Jeter
CF Jacoby Ellsbury
DH Carlos Beltran
1B Brian McCann
3B Chase Headley
C Francisco Cervelli
RF Zelous Wheeler
2B Brendan Ryan

Pitching matchup preview:

Shane Greene gets the ball for the Yankees today in the finale of this three-game series. Greene enters the day 2-1 with 2.79 ERA through his first three big league starts.

The worst of those three outings was the most recent one, this past week against the Rangers. Greene exited with two outs in the 6th, and finished by giving up four runs on five hits in what would be his first loss of the season that day.

Greene, the rookie, will be going up against the veteran left-hander JA Happ, who's coming off one of his best outings of the year after throwing six scoreless innings in victory against the Red Sox.

"That might have been, in my opinion, his best outing of the year," said Blue jays manager John Gibbons told reporters. "He had a good curveball going that he established, he used quite a bit. He primarily relies on his fastball, because he has a good one, but he had a good curveball that he was throwing over the plate and a good changeup. That was big, that was a big part of the reason he held them in check."

Yankee Notes:

* The Yankees had four scouts on hand to watch Cuban outfielder Rusney Castillo workout at the University of Miami on Saturday, according to the NY Post.

With almost the entire league there to watch him, some believe that the outfielder could land a contract in the range of what Yasiel Puig got from the Los Angeles Dodgers a couple years ago -- Puig signed for $42 million.

The 27-year-old is a very strong, fast player that could easily help the Yankees now and in the future, possibly filling up right field next to Ellsbury and Gardner. His power, along side the speed of Ellsbury and Gardner, that could be one of the most dangerous outfields in all of the Majors.

* It doesn't sound like Mark Teixeira will need to go on the DL. Joe Girardi told reporters that they're shooting for a Tuesday/Wednesday return for the switch-hitting first baseman.

* Carlos Beltran hasn't been missing any time lately, expect for the fact that he hasn't played in the outfield since May. Girardi also believes that Carlos Beltran isn't too far off from returning to the outfield, suggesting that he could be just a few weeks away.

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Game 103: Keep the winning going

Ichiro Suzuki can hear you, Michael Kay. Hall of Fame introductions coming up this weekend, the Future Hall of Fame outfielder, Ichiro, picked the perfect time to his his first homerun of the season last night, a three-run shot that put Yankees up 6-4, a lead which they would not give up after falling behind 3-0 in the 1st inning.

With last night's win over the Toronto Blue Jays in the first of a three-game set at Yankee Stadium this weekend, the Yankees extended their home winning streak over the Jays to an insane 17 games. Not since 2012 have the Blue Jays beaten the Yankees in the Bronx. And even more amazingly, they've held a lead in 12 of those 17 games.

Because the Baltimore Orioles won last night, defeating the Seattle Mariners, 2-1, in 10 innings, the Yankees, who are playing great baseball right now, 8-1 since the All-Star break, remained just three games behind the O's in the ever-so-winnable AL East, while the Jays fell to four games back.

Today's lineup vs Toronto:

LF Brett Gardner
SS Derek Jeter
CF Jacoby Ellsbury
DH Carlos Beltran
1B Brian McCann
3B Chase Headley
RF Ichiro Suzuki
2B Brian Roberts
C Francisco Cervelli

* Joe Girardi told reporters yesterday that he doesn't expect Mark Teixeira to be ready by the end of the weekend, but hopes that he'll be ready to get back in the lineup by Monday, when the team opens up a three-game series in Texas.

Teixeira did a few exercises and some running on Friday as he tries to recover from a mild strain in his lower left lat that has kept him out of the lineup since Monday.

During his absence, McCann has been playing first base, while Cervelli gets the chance to be showcased behind the plate for any interested trad suitors.

Pitching matchup preview:

Acquired by the Yankees from the Colorado Rockies for cash on Thursday night, the Yankees will send left-hander Chris Capuano to the mound on Saturday for his first start in pinstripes, while Chase Whitley has been moved into the bullpen.

Capuano, who was 1-0 with a 2.79 ERA in four minor league starts with Colorado after being signed on July 4, will be the first lefty to start for the Yankees this season since good ol' Vidal Nuno before being traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks. With Nuno gone and CC Sabathia done for the year, this is all they've got.

Meanwhile, right-hander Drew Hutchinson will be on the hill for the Blue Jays today. He's coming off of the shortest outing his his career -- not including injuries -- after giving up a career-high six earned runs in 2 2/3 innings against the Boston Red Sox.

He'll be looking for a much better day as he goes up against a guy that hasn't started in the big leagues this season.

(Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

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Yankees 6, Blue Jays 4: Ichiro's 1st homerun of the year gives Yanks 17th straight home win over Toronto

The Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays met up in the Bronx on Friday night for the opener of a three-game series at Yankee Stadium. Both teams were playing well coming into the game, but it was the Yankees, after falling behind early, that battled back to beat the Jays, 6-4, to improve to 7-1 since the All-Star break.

Jose Bautista did all of the heavy lifting for the Blue Jays, driving in all four of their runs on a pair of homeruns. The first, in the 1st, put the Jays up 3-0. Jose Reyes lead off the game with a bloop single into center field, then two batters later, Melky Cabrera singled to put runners on the corners with one out. Then Hiroki Kuroda hung a pitch to Bautista, and he made him pay by sending it far into the left field seats; not a cheap shot, as they'd say.

Facing left-hander Mark Buehrle, who hadn't won since June 1 and has also never been successful against the Bombers in his career, the Yankees closed the gap by putting up a pair of runs in the bottom half of the 2nd.

Brian McCann and Chase Headley opened the inning with back-to-back singles, then Buehrle walked Ichiro Suzuki to load the bases with nobody out. Brian Roberts put the Yanks on the board by beating out an infield single, scoring McCann. After Francisco Cervelli, who collected a pair of hits in the game, struck out, Brett Gardner made it a one-run game with a sac-fly into the right-center field gap.

The Blue Jays, or should I say Bautista, was quick to respond in the top of the 4th inning, hitting a solo blast off of Kuroda -- his 20th of the season -- to extend Toronto's lead to 4-2.

The 28-pitch 1st inning really hurt Kuroda, forcing Joe Girardi to pull him from the game with two outs in the 6th. Other than David Phelps' five inning complete-game on Wednesday, I believe that Kuroda is the first Yankee starter to go less than six innings since the All-Star break. He ended up with 94 pitches, giving up the four Bautista RBIs on eight hits, while walking one and striking out three.

The Yankees took a 6-4 lead in the 3rd inning with a four-run frame against Buehrle. Carlos Beltran hit a one-out solo homerun, his 11th of the year, into the left field seats to make it a 4-3 game. McCann and Headley followed with back-to-back singles, then Ichiro pulled off the biggest plot twist of the night, hitting his first homerun of the season, a three-run shot that put the Yankees up by two runs to cap off the early comeback.

Buehrle, in case you were wondering, didn't make it past the 3rd inning. John Gibbons went to his bullpen in just the 4th inning. Buehrle was charged with six runs in nine hits, with a walk and two strikeouts.

It took David Huff just seven pitches to both record the final out of the 6th inning after replacing Kuroda, and then getting the first two outs of the 7th before handing the ball to Shawn Kelley, who needed six pitches to retire Dan Johnson for the final out of the inning.

Bautista hit a one-out double off the glove of Roberts in center field -- he was running backwards for the ball and it hit off of his glove while going for the over-the-shoulder grab -- but that was the only bad mark of a scoreless 8th inning by Dellin Betances.

Then David Robertson came on in the 9th, and he struck out two of the four hitters he faced to lock down his second save in as many days -- 26th of the year. Man, he and Betances could make a very deadly combo in the 8th and 9th for many years down the road. The Yankees first need to give Robertson the contract extension that he desperately deserves.

Chris Capuano will make his Yankees debut on Saturday, starting in place of Chase Whitley, who was moved into the bullpen on Friday. He'll be going up against RHP Drew Hutchinson at 1:05 pm ET.

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Game 102: Going for 17 straight

After a fairly disappointing first half of the season, the Yankees have been playing some good ball since the All-Star break, winning six of their seven games, including three of four against the Texas Rangers this week.

Now the Bombers welcome the Toronto Blue Jays to town, a team that has lost 16 consecutive games in Yankee Stadium dating back to 2012, including includes a pair of three-game sweeps this year. With the Red and Rangers out of the way, I'd say this could be a great end to what has been a pretty good homestand for the Yankees.

The second have of the Blue Jays' season has gotten off to just as good of a start as the Yankees. The Jays just took three straight games away from the Boston Red Sox this week, and are 5-2 since the break. The Blue Jays enter the game tied for second place in the AL East with the Yankees, who enter play just three games back of the division-leading Baltimore Orioles.

Toronto is dealing with several injuries that could play a factor over the weekend, with Edwin Encarnacion (quad), Adam Lind (foot) and Brett Lawrie (finger) all on the DL.

Tonight's lineup against Toronto:

LF Brett Gardner
SS Derek Jeter
CF Jacoby Ellsbury
DH Carlos Beltran
1B Brian McCann
3B Chase Headley
RF Ichiro Suzuki
2B Brian Roberts
C Francisco Cervelli

* The Yankees announced today that they have designated RHP Chris Leroux for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster for LHP Chris Capuano, who was acquired last night for cash in a trade with the Rockies. Capuano was added to the Yankees' big league roster, giving Joe Girardi four lefties in his bullpen. Overkill, if you ask me.

Pitching matchup preview:

Hiroki Kuroda, the Yankees' ace-by-default, will be on the hill for the Bombers tonight in the opener of this three-game series.

Making his second start of the first half, Kuroda last took the mound against the Reds last weekend, tossing 6.2 inning of shutout ball, giving up just three hits.

While the Blue Jays haven't beaten the Yankees in the Bronx since 2012, Mark Buehrle's losing streak against the Yankees is even longer, as the left-hander hasn't defeated the Yankees in over a decade.

And All-Star for the first time in five years during the first half of the season, Buehrle has not won a start since picking up his 10th win of the season on June 1, going 0-6 since then. He's now 10-6 with a 2.86 ERA this season.

Buehrle took the mound against the Rangers on Sunday in Toronto, giving up five runs on eight hits in six innings of work.

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Yankees 5, Blue Jays 3: Mark Teixeira drives in three runs to snap the Yanks' losing skid

Hiroki Kuroda fell behind early, giving up a run in the 1st inning, but the Yankees rallied back, took the lead this time after kept it after losing on Tuesday night, as the Bombers snapped a four-game losing streak with a 5-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday night at the Rogers Centre.

Mark Teixeira told reporters after the game that is was a big win for the Yankees, who gained a game on the Jays heading into their off-day on Thursday before opening up against the Red Sox in New York on Friday, and he contributed in a big way, driving in three runs, two on his 14th homerun of the season.

Jose Reyes lead off the bottom of the 1st inning with a solo homerun off of Kuroda that put the Blue Jays up 1-0 before Kuroda could even settle in, which he did for the next four innings before Melky Cabrera knocked in a pair of runs in the 5th inning on a two-run single.

Kuroda worked well for the Yankees throughout the night, exiting with one out in the 7th inning. He tossed 6.1 innings, giving up three runs on eight hits, with two walks and four strikeouts on 102 pitches.

Kuroda left with the Yankees up 5-3, so let me tell you how the Yankees scored their five runs.

The Yankees' offense, which came to life for a couple of innings on Tuesday, hit Jays starter Drew Hutchinson for around the park for four runs that put the Bombers up 4-1.

Kelly Johnson walked to open the inning, then Francisco Cervelli doubled to score him, putting New York on the board. A couple of outs later, Jacoby Ellsbury singled home Cervelli, then Teixeira blasted a two-run homerun off of Hutchinson that made it a 4-1 game.

Hutchinson lasted six innings for the Jays, giving up four runs on seven hits, with two walks and six strikeouts.

After Toronto closed the gap to 4-3 on Cabrera's two-run single in the 5th, Teixeira tacked on another insurance run for the Yankees with a sac-fly in the 7th against Sergio Santos, scoring Brett Gardner, who walked, moved to second on a Derek Jeter hit-by-pitch, then advanced to third base on a wild pitch.

Shawn Kelley, Matt Thornton and Adam Warren all recorded one out each following after Kuroda, then David Robertson entered with one out in the 8th, recording his first five-out save of the season -- 17th overall on the year -- to seal the victory for the Yankees.

Following the Thursday off-day, Vidal Nuno will be on the mound for the Yankees when they open up a three-game series at Yankee Stadium, with Brandon Workman opposing him for the Red Sox at 7:05 pm ET.

(AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Nathan Denette)

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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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Yankees 6, Blue Jays 7: Defensive mistakes doom the Bombers in loss to Toronto

The Yankees fell behind by six runs, somehow came back to tie the game, denying Mark Buehrle his second career victory against the Yanks, but the Toronto Blue Jays were able to walk it off in the bottom of the 9th, defeating the Yankees, 7-6, on Tuesday night at the Rogers Centre, adding another game to their lead over the Bombers in the AL East.

The Blue Jays struck first against Phelps in the 4th inning on a big blast by Dioner Navarro. Adam Lind and Edwin Encarnacion reached on singles to begin the innings, then two batters later, Navarro took Phelps deep to right field for his fourth homerun of the season, putting Toronto up 3-0 -- a deficit that seemed pretty hard for the Yankees' offense to overcome.

Toronto doubled their lead an inning later in the 5th, mostly due to a mental mistake made by Derek Jeter with two outs in the inning. After Munenori Kawasaki and Jose Reyes singled to open the frame, Phelps set down the next two Jays, but with two down, Encarnacion hit a groundball to Jeter, who must have forgotten how many outs there were, as he looked to third, and then to second before firing a later throw to first, loading the bases.

With Toronto now in a better position to do some damage, Colby Rasmus hit a long single off of the top of the right field wall, clearing the bases to make it a 6-0 game.

Phelps finished off of the inning, but that was all he would see. Pitching pretty well before he entered the 4th inning, Phelps was charged with all six runs in eight hits and a walk, with seven strikeouts for the second start in a row.

Jeter began the Yankees' comeback in the 6th inning by making up for his defensive mistake, hitting a solo homerun off of Buehrle, his second long ball of the season, putting the Yankees on the board to make it a 6-1 game. Defense aside, Jeter has been swinging the bat well lately, and is starting to actually help the Yankees there.

In the 7th, Brian McCann hit a one-out double, his second base hit of the night, then a batter later, Brian Roberts hit a homerun, a two-run shot that would have tied the game if not for Jeter in the 5th, pulling the Yankees to within 6-3 -- it was Roberts' 3rd of the season, first since May 25.

Buehrle rebounded by retiring Yangervis Solarte, who collected a base hit in his first at-bat, but hit night ended a batter later when Brett Gardner doubled off of him with two outs.

Dustin McGowan took over for Buehrle, who was no longer in line for his first win over the Yankees in 10 years after giving up four runs on eight hits in 6.2 innings, and he walked Jeter to begin his night, then served up an RBI single to Jacoby Ellsbury, scoring Gardner, then Mark Teixeira hit s ground ball to Reyes, who's throw bounced, which lead to Teixeira running into Encarnacion at first base, and as the ball got by, two runs score to tie the game at 6-6.

After Matt Thornton's scoreless 6th inning, Dellin Betances took over in the 6th, set down the Jays in order without recording a strikeouts (odd, indeed), then ran into some trouble in the 7th, where he worked his way out of a bases loaded jam with one away, getting a force out at home, and a strikeout to end the inning.

Then on to the 9th, the Yankees failed to score when Gardner opened the inning with a single, but the Blue Jays didn't fail to do so in the bottom half of the inning. Reyes lead off with a double against Adam Warren, then Melky Cabrera dropped down a bunt, to which Solarte's throw to first was off target, going down the right field line, scoring Reyes to win the game for the Blue Jays.

The Yankees have now dropped three straight as they head into the series final with Toronto on Wednesday night. Hiroki Kuroda will be on the mound for the Yankees, facing off against Drew Hutchinson at 7:07 pm ET.

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Game 76: Yankees face Mark Buehrle, who can seem to beat them

Another Yankees starter took a beating on Monday night, when the Toronto Blue Jays chased Chase Whitley out of the game after just 3.1 inning, knocking him around for eight runs on 11 hits, just a day after the Baltimore Orioles took Vidal Nuno yard three times in a 8-0 loss on Sunday.

The Yankees' biggest problem isn't their starting pitching, but rather the fact that the pitchers aren't getting any run support. Masahiro Tanaka suffered his second loss of the season on Sunday mostly because the Yankees made Chris Tillman look like a All-Star.

Entering play on Tuesday night, the Yankees rank 12th out of 15 American League teams in runs scored (300), 9th out of 15 in batting average (.253), 11th in on-base percentage (.318), 10th in slugging percentage (.377) and 12th in run differential (-35).

In other words: for a team that spent hundreds of millions over the offseason to bring in offensive weapons like Brian McCann, Jacoby Ellsbury and Carlos Beltran, there has been very little positives to talk about no the offensive side of the ball.

Tonight's lineup against Toronto:

LF Brett Gardner
SS Derek Jeter
CF Jacoby Ellsbury
1B Mark Teixeira
RF Alfonso Soriano
DH Carlos Beltran
C Brian McCann
2B Brian Roberts
3B Yangervis Solarte

* Major League Baseball announced not long ago that catcher/infielder/outfielder Peter O'Brien (USA) and right-handed pitcher Luis Severino (World) would represent the Yankees at the 2014 All-Star Futures Game in Minnesota on Sunday, July 13.

It's a pretty big honor to get a spot in the game, as the best talent in all of baseball will be there for the nine inning exhibition game on the Sunday right before the All-Star Game. I actually thought that Aaron Judge would be one of the Yankees to get in, but I guess O'Brien got the call over him because of his mass dinger explosion this season.

Pitching matchup preview:

David Phelps gets the call for the Yankees tonight in Toronto as he looks to right the ship for the Yankees' pitching staff after a couple of bad outings by Nuno and Whitley.

Phelps is coming off of one of his best starts of the season, against the Blue Jays last week at Yankee Stadium, when he tossed seven innings off two-run ball, scattering six hits, two walks and seven strikeouts in the win that extended the Yankees' home winning streak against Toronto to 16 games.

Going for the Blue Jays tonight is a guy that has been one of the best pitchers in baseball this season, although he has never been good against the Yankees in his career -- Mark Buehrle, who 1-11 with a 5.84 ERA and 1.55 WHIP against the Bombers.

Buehrle, who is 10-4 with a 2.32 ERA in 15 starts this season, took the loss against the Yankees last week after allowing two earned runs, six hits and two walks with four strikeouts over six innings.

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Yankees 3, Blue Jays 8: Whitley whipped around as Yanks drop series opener in Toronto

Well it was bound to happen eventually: Chase Whitley suffered his first loss of the season since taking over in the rotation back in May, as the Toronto Blue Jays knocked him around, hard, for eight runs on 11 hits in 3.1 innings -- his shortest outing of the season -- in the Yankees 8-3 loss to Toronto in the opener of a three-game series on Friday night at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

After jumping out to a 1-0 lead in the 1st inning on an Adam Lind single, scoring Melky Cabrera, who extending his hitting streak against the Yankees to 20 games, the Blue Jays blew the game open for six runs on seven hits in the 2nd inning. Three straight reached to open the inning, then Jose Reyes grounded into a fielder's choice, scoring one. Cabrera singled to make it 3-0, then Lind hit a three-run shot that made it a 6-0 Jays lead.

A few batters later, Dioner Navarro doubled home Edwin Encarnacion, putting the Blue Jays up 7-0.

Mark Teixeira put the Yankees on the board in the top of the 4th inning with a solo shot to center field that appears to maybe tip off of Colby Rasmus' glove, bouncing over the wall for his 13th dinger of the season, which leads the Yankees.

Whitley's night ended with one out in the 4th inning when Navarro drove in another run against him, pushing Toronto's lead to 8-1.

For a kid that had been working as a reliever for pretty much his entire pro career, there was reason to believe that Whitley would not be able to keep up this hot streak during his rookie season. He's a quality pitcher, but he's not Masahiro Tanaka. Some team was bound to get to him eventually.

The Yankee' bullpen took over from there, starting with David Huff, who worked 3.2 innings, giving up just one hits with a pair of walks and three strikeouts. Not a bad night for him. And than Shawn Kelley followed with a scoreless 8th inning, striking out the side while giving up just one hit.

Yangervis Solarte finally broke his 0 for 28 skid in the 9th inning with an RBI single to score Francisco Cervelli, who walked to open the inning, closing the deficit to 8-2, then two batters later, Kelly Johnson hit an RBI double down the left field line, making it a 8-3 game.

The loss snapped the Yankees' 10-game weekday winning streak, and now they'll have to start up a new streak come Tuesday, when David Phelps and Mark Buehrle square off at 7:07 pm ET.

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Game 75: Derek Jeter gets the night off for opener in Toronto

The Yankees don't win games on the weekend, but they are playing pretty well during the normal work week. After falling to the Baltimore Orioles, 8-0, yesterday, the Yankees have dropped seven straight weekend games going back to June 1. On the other side of things, they enter Monday night's series opener against the Toronto Blue Jays on a 10-game.

Toronto, who leads currently holds a 1.5 game lead in the AL East, dropped it's last two games to the Cincinnati Reds and just placed third baseman Brett Lawrie on the disabled list today with a fractured right index finger suffered during the Jays' visit to New York last week.

One of the league's top MVP candidates, Jose Bautista, is sitting out tonight's game with a hamstring issue. He is currently listed as day-to-day.

Tonight's lineup against Toronto:

LF Brett Gardner
DH Carlos Beltran
CF Jacoby Ellsbury
1B Mark Teixeira
C Brian McCann
3B Kelly Johnson
2B Brian Roberts
RF Ichiro Suzuki
SS Brendan Ryan

P Chase Whitley

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