Yankees 2, Blue Jays 1
NEW YORK -- They needed this type of outing from Phil Hughes.
The New York Yankees also needed Rafael Soriano to come right back after his blown save Monday, and they got just the performance they needed from both players in a 2-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday night.
Hughes threw seven innings of one-run ball, allowing Adeiny Hechavarria's first major-league home run and little else. Helped by second baseman Robinson Cano's leaping catch and double play to escape a jam in the sixth, Hughes allowed just one run on four hits.
The Yankees scratched across runs in the third and fourth and Hughes, David Robertson and Soriano made it stand up.
For Toronto, it was just another defeat in a season that's seen the Blue Jays languish in last place, on a day where the bigger loss came before the game. The Blue Jays announced Jose Bautista would need season-ending surgery on his left wrist.
But the Yankees were coming off a stinging loss to Toronto on Monday, in which their closer offered a rare blown save and their captain's homer wasn't enough to bring them back.
New York also had to deal with the loss of first baseman Mark Teixeira for at least the next week, if not two, with his strained left calf. All the while, the surprising Baltimore Orioles continued to provide pressure they haven't in 15 years, remaining just 3 1/2 games back in the American League East.
So, with a lineup that featured the recently acquired Steve Pearce as the cleanup hitter, the Yankees needed just the kind of game the inconsistent Hughes (13-11) gave them Tuesday.
Cano bailed Hughes out in the sixth, with runners on first and third and one out, when he made a leaping grab of Yunel Escobar's line drive, then fired to third, to double up Colby Rasmus.
Robertson pitched a scoreless eighth in his third straight day of work. Soriano also threw for the third straight day, throwing a perfect ninth a day after giving up a two-out, three-run, go-ahead homer to Rasmus in the ninth. Soriano earned his 34th save of the season.
Ricky Romero (8-12) gave up just two runs on five hits in seven innings for Toronto.
The Yankees took a 2-0 lead with single runs in the third and fourth, as Nick Swisher singled in a run in the third and Curtis Granderson hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth to score Pearce, who led off the inning with a walk and stole second.
Toronto closed within 2-1 on Hechavarria's two-out solo homer to right.
Bautista, who initially injured the wrist during a swing against the Yankees on July 16, said he was not experiencing pain in his wrist, but that the tendon had not felt stable. The surgery was recommended by hand specialist Dr. Thomas Graham, after Bautista saw him in Cleveland.
The two-time defending major-league home run champion was hitting .241 with 27 homers and 65 RBIs in 92 games this season. He decided to opt for the surgery after consulting Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Sam Fuld, who underwent a similar procedure. Fuld had initially chosen to rest the wrist without surgery, but aggravated it in spring training and missed nearly four months of the season.
"There's no need to chance it and have the same thing that happened to him," Bautista said. "It was the right time for it."
Bautista said he should be recovered two months before spring training starts.
NOTES: Teixeira, who sustained a Grade 1 strain of his left calf in Monday's game, said Tuesday he hopes he won't be out for more than a week, but acknowledged he could miss two weeks. ... Third baseman Alex Rodriguez (fractured left hand) took live batting practice before Tuesday's game, the first time he had done so since sustaining the injury. Yankees manager Joe Girardi said he thought Rodriguez would need to go on a rehab assignment before returning in September. ... Infielder Casey McGehee was demoted to Class A Charleston (S.C.) to make room for Pearce. The team chose Charleston because it is not in line for a postseason spot after its season ends on Sept. 3, allowing the Yankees to recall McGehee more quickly. ... Blue Jays first-round pick Marcus Stroman was suspended 50 games for using a banned substance, methylhexaneamine. The right-hander for Class AA New Hampshire said in a statement he "unknowingly ingested a banned stimulant that was in an over-the-counter supplement."
