Jays take advantage of Suzuki's error, top Yanks

TORONTO -- Ichiro Suzuki said he was mortified. The Toronto Blue Jays were grateful.

The New York Yankees right-fielder dropped the ball on a deep sacrifice fly by Edwin Encarnacion that keyed a three-run fifth inning, and the Blue Jays took advantage of it for a 5-2 victory Monday.

"If I could have just gone straight home from right field, I would have," Suzuki said. "I was that embarrassed."

"You never see Ichiro drop a popup, but it worked out good for us, and we scored a couple of runs," said Blue Jays shortstop Jose Reyes, who started the rally with a one-out double and scored the go-ahead run on Encarnacion's fly ball.

Encarnacion had two RBIs, and R.A. Dickey pitched 6 1/3 innings to give the Blue Jays' second victory in 13 games this season against the Yankees. The teams are 2-2 at Rogers Centre.

Toronto earned its second win in a row overall after snapping a seven-game losing streak with a 2-1 victory at Houston on Sunday.

Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said, "The key was, in a close game, we plated a few runs to give us a little breathing room. And that's what we haven't been able to do the last couple of weeks."

Dickey (10-12) allowed two runs (one earned) and six hits, improving to 1-2 in three starts against the Yankees this season.

"It's always nice to perform well in this stadium and particularly against a team as good as New York," Dickey said.

Left-hander Aaron Loup had three strikeouts in 1 1/3 innings after replacing Dickey, and right-hander Sergio Santos retired the final batter of the eighth. Casey Janssen pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his 24th save of the season.

New York right-hander Phil Hughes (4-13) allowed seven hits and five runs (three earned) in 4 2/3 innings. He dropped his sixth straight decision dating to July 2, a span of 13 starts.

"Right now he's in our rotation and we haven't talked about taking him out," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "We didn't make the play behind him, and it looks a lot different if it's three runs in five innings."

The Blue Jays took a 5-2 lead in the fifth. Reyes doubled and Goins singled with one out to put runners at the corners. Ichiro dropped Encarnacion's sacrifice fly, allowing one run to score.

"Something you're not going to see very often," Girardi said. "It just looked like he jumped for it and maybe he didn't have to. Maybe he was closer to the wall than he thought."

Adam Lind doubled in another run, and after Lawrie was intentionally walked, Sierra hit a sacrifice fly. Left-hander David Huff replaced Hughes, and he worked 3 1/3 scoreless innings.

Hughes said of Suzuki's error, "You've got to find a way to battle around it, and unfortunately I couldn't. I left a lot of sliders over the middle of the plate today. It didn't really seem like it had the bite that it did in the last couple (of starts). My fastball was OK, but I got in a lot of long counts, and my slider, when I really needed it, was kind of flat and spinning."

The Yankees took a 1-0 lead in the first on a groundout by Robinson Cano, a ball deflected by Dickey to Reyes. Brett Gardner, who led off with a single and advanced on a passed ball and a groundout, scored from third on the fielder's choice.

Kevin Pillar's bloop two-out single tied the game at 1 in the second. Brett Lawrie scored after leading off with a single. He took second on Moises Sierra's walk and moved to third when Josh Thole grounded into a double play.

The Blue Jays took a 2-1 lead in the third when Encarnacion's single scored Reyes, who led off with a walk and was bunted to second by Ryan Goins.

Alex Rodriguez led off the fifth with his third homer of the season to tie the game at 2. It was the 650th homer of his career, a milestone reached previously by only Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth and Willie Mays.

"Alex hit a pretty good pitch," Dickey said. "It was a knuckleball down, and he likes the ball down and over the plate, and that one just happened to go there. He did a very good job of hitting it out. He has opposite-field power, he always has. But if I can contain those to solo shots, it will give me a much better chance."

Girardi said, "That's the difference, we didn't get the hits with runners in scoring position and they did."

NOTES: Yankees SS Derek Jeter was back in the lineup after missing 22 games with a right calf strain, and he went 0-for-3 with a walk. He has missed a total of 125 games this season over three stints on the disabled list. ... The Blue Jays designated RHP Chien-Ming Wang for assignment after recalling him from Triple-A Buffalo to start in Saturday's 8-5 loss to the Astros. Wang allowed five runs (four earned) in three innings. ... Loup was activated from the paternity list after his wife gave birth to a daughter. ... The game drew a crowd of 35,421. ... LHP Andy Pettitte (9-9, 4.36 ERA) will start Tuesday for the Yankees against LHP J.A. Happ (3-3, 5.10 ERA).