Yankees 7, Blue Jays 1
TORONTO -- Alfonso Soriano hit two homers and drove in four runs as the New York Yankees defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 7-1 Tuesday.
Brett Gardner and Alex Rodriguez also homered for the Yankees, and left-hander Andy Pettitte (10-9) held the Blue Jays to five hits over seven scoreless innings to pick up his third consecutive win.
Soriano keyed a four-run first inning with a three-run homer against Toronto left-hander J.A. Happ (3-4) after Yankee second baseman Robinson Cano was hit by a pitch on the left hand.
Cano was diagnosed with a bruised hand did not come out for the bottom of the first. X-rays were negative.
Soriano also hit the 400th homer of his career to lead off the third before a crowd of 34,047 at Rogers Centre.
Happ allowed seven hits and five runs in 4 2/3 innings before being replaced by Esmil Rogers. The reliever allowed Gardner's ninth homer of the season and Rodriguez's fourth of the year.
Right-hander Adam Warren took over for the Yankees in the eighth and allowed five hits, including a run-scoring double by Kevin Pillar, over two innings.
Moises Sierra had two singles and a double for the Blue Jays.
Eduardo Nunez, who replaced Cano at second base, left the game in the ninth with an apparent knee injury. Mark Reynolds moved from first base to second, and Lyle Overbay took over at first.
The Yankees led 4-0 after the first inning.
Gardner led off with a double, and Derek Jeter singled to score the first run. Cano was in pain after being hit by Happ's pitch but stayed in the game and scored on Soriano's first home run of the game.
Soriano hit his second homer of the game on the first pitch of the third inning. The ball bounced off the top of the left field fence and over. It was his 11th homer this season as a Yankee and his 28th on the year overall. He was acquired in a trade with the Chicago Cubs on July 26.
NOTES: Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos said before the game that John Gibbons would return as manager next season despite the team's disappointing record. ... Blue Jays RHP Chien-Ming Wang was assigned outright to Triple-A Buffalo after being designated for assignment Monday. ... New York improved to 13-2 against Toronto this season. ... The Yankees have won 23 games by one run, exceeding their total of 22 one-run wins in 2012. ... The teams play the rubber match of the three-game series Wednesday, with Yankees RHP Hiroki Kuroda (11-9, 2.71 ERA) facing Blue Jays RHP Todd Redmond (1-2, 4.44 ERA).
