Yankees 5, Blue Jays 3 (11)
TORONTO -- The New York Yankees broke a tie with two runs in the 11th inning to beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-3 Saturday before a sellout crowd of 46,095 at Rogers Centre.
Toronto tied the game with three runs in the eighth inning but the Yankees came back after an error led to two unearned runs.
Vernon Wells and Francisco Cervelli led off the 11th with singles against left-hander Aaron Loup (1-1).
Loup threw the ball away going for the force at third on Ichiro Suzuki's sacrifice bunt to the left side of the infield allowing both runners to score.
Ichiro went to second on the error. Eduardo Nunez sacrificed him to third after right-hander Steve Delabar took over for Toronto to finish the inning.
Right-hander Shawn Kelley (1-0) pitched 2/3 of an inning to earn the win. Mariano Rivera picked up his fifth save of the season despite allowing a leadoff double to Jose Bautista.
Yankees right-hander Hiroki Kuroda, who shut out the Baltimore Orioles in his previous start, also was effective against the Blue Jays.
He held Toronto (7-11) to three hits, one walk and one run while striking out seven over 7 1/3 innings. But his replacement, right-hander David Robertson gave up two hits and two runs as well as allowing the runner he inherited from Kuroda to score as the Blue Jays tied the game 3-3 in the eighth. Melky Cabrera's two-out, two-run single brought the Blue Jays even.
Toronto left-hander Mark Buehrle allowed three runs and eight hits that included a home run by Wells in the second inning and a two-run single by Kevin Youkilis in the fifth. But the Blue Jays three-run eighth took him off the hook for the loss.
The Yankees (10-6) took the lead in the second on Wells' fifth homer of the season and his second in two games against his former team. He lined a 3-2 changeup off the foul pole in left with one out and the bases empty.
The Yankees were given another chance in the fourth on a one-out error by second baseman Maicer Izturis but could not capitalize. He dropped the throw from shortstop Munenori Kawasaki on what appeared to be a routine force at second. The Yankees loaded the bases with two out on Ichiro's infield single but Eduardo Nunez popped out to end the inning.
The Yankees added two runs in the fifth. Jayson Nix led off with a single and took third on Brett Gardner's double. Buehrle struck out Ben Francisco. Robinson Cano was walked intentionally. Youkilis was given credit for a two-run single when his line drive eluded third baseman Brett Lawrie and skipped off his glove into left field. Wells singled to load the bases again but Cervelli hit into a double play to keep the score at 3-0.
Right-hander Esmil Rogers replaced Buehrle in the eighth and allowed a leadoff double to former Blue Jay Lyle Overbay, who entered the game at first base in the sixth after Youkilis developed back tightness.
But Rogers escaped the inning on three ground balls and was helped on the first one by a superb defensive play by Lawrie.
Robertson replaced Kuroda in the eighth after Colby Rasmus grounded a one-out single. He struck out Izturis before walking pinch-hitter Adam Lind.
Rajai Davis put the Blue Jays on the board when he grounded a single up the middle that scored Rasmus and sent pinch-runner Emilio Bonifacio to third. Davis stole second. Cabrera lined a single to center to tie the game. Bautista walked but Edwin Encarnacion struck out.
Notes: The Blue Jays have been outscored in the first inning 16-9 this season. ... Yankees center fielder Gardner singled in the third inning to extend his hit streak to seven games. ... Ichiro hit two doubles on Friday after entering the game with only one extra base hit on the season, a solo homer at Cleveland on April 9. ... Blue Jays right-hander Josh Johnson (0-1, 6.91 ERA) is one of two Blue Jays starters without a win this year and he tries for the fourth time on Sunday against right-hander Ivan Nova (1-1, 5.59 ERA). Right-hander Brandon Morrow is Toronto's other winless starter.
