TORONTO — The New York Yankees helped stay in the playoff race with their domination of the Toronto Blue Jays earlier in the season.
But lately the Blue Jays have been doing their best to knock the Yankees out of the race.
With Anthony Gose and Adam Lind hitting home runs and right-hander Todd Redmond working seven strong innings, the Blue Jays defeated the Yankees 6-2 on Thursday night in the rubber match of a three-game series.
“The way the year has gone we’re looking at some satisfaction,” said Blue Jays manager John Gibbons, whose team has been a major disappointment this season. “To take two out of three from them is nice, especially the way they’ve been beating us like a drum all year long. We like to inflict our own version of pain somehow.”
The Yankees finished their season series against the Blue Jays with a 14-5 record despite losing four of their past six games against them.
“There’s only so many ‘get ’em tomorrows’ left,” Yankees third baseman Mark Reynolds said. “We’re going to keep fighting and see where we are.”
Redmond (4-2) held the Yankees to four hits, one walk and one run and struck out seven as the Blue Jays (70-82) completed their homestand at 3-6.
Curtis Granderson homered for the Yankees (80-73), who entered the evening 2 1/2 games out of an American League wild-card spot and finished their trip at 4-6.
“It’s tough,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “They’re all tough at this point. We’re just not swinging the bats right now. It’s frustrating. We haven’t swung the bats that well for the last week. Hopefully, going home will help us.”
Yankees starter Hiroki Kuroda (11-12) allowed eight hits, four walks and three runs while striking out seven in six innings to take his fifth loss without a win in his past seven starts.
“Gutsy,” Girardi said. “He was in trouble every inning. He got some double plays that helped him. It seemed like the first guy was on every inning, or the first two guys were on every inning. He did a really good job of minimizing damage.”
Joba Chamberlain took over for New York in the seventh and did not retire a batter, allowing three runs on Lind’s 22nd homer of the season, a blast to right on a 2-1 slider. Chamberlain walked Munenori Kawasaki to start the inning and Brett Lawrie followed with a single to extend his hitting streak to six games.
Redmond’s seven innings were a season high. He is getting his first chance in the majors this season.
“I just know my ability and I know I was capable of doing it when I had gone through was the minors,” Redmond said. “I got the chance and now I’m just trying to go with it and run with it while I’ve got the chance. If you can throw strikes you can be successful at any level.
“It’s definitely been a good year, getting the opportunity to pitch, to get in the rotation, it’s a dream come true actually to go out there and be able to compete and help the team win.”
Toronto opened a 2-0 lead in the third inning. Granderson hit his seventh homer of the season to right with one out in the sixth to cut the lead to one.
Gose answered with his second homer of the season with two out in the bottom of the sixth to make it 3-1. It was his third hit of the game against Kuroda.
“I didn’t feel any different, but I was able to get big outs later in the game,” Kuroda said. “One thing I did was change pitch selection so that might have something to do with it. There are good days and bad days, with the offense, too. As a pitcher, I have to concentrate on not giving up that third run in the sixth.”
Sergio Santos pitched a 1-2-3 eighth for the Blue Jays before a crowd of 32,003 at Rogers Centre.
Luis Perez retired one batter in the ninth for the Blue Jays before Alex Rodriguez walked and Robinson Cano singled.
Jeremy Jeffress took over and walked Alfonso Soriano to load the bases. He was replaced by Casey Janssen. Vernon Wells grounded out to second, scoring one run. Lyle Overbay grounded out to first to end the game and Janssen picked up his 32nd save.
The Blue Jays scored twice in the third. Gose led off with a single and cruised home on a double to left center by Jose Reyes. Reyes took third on a sacrifice by Kawasaki and came home on Lawrie’s chopper to third.
NOTES: RHP Mariano Rivera who is retiring at the end of the season, was honored in a pregame ceremony, with the Blue Jays donating $10,000 to the Mariano Rivera Foundation and presenting the Yankees closer with an Inuit sculpture. Blue Jays LHP Darren Oliver, Janssen and RF Jose Bautista took part in the presentation. ….1B Edwin Encarnacion had successful surgery in Cleveland on Thursday to clean up cartilage in his left wrist. … Toronto RHP Esmil Rogers (5-7, 4.47 ERA) will start Friday’s opener of a three-game series at Boston. LHP Jon Lester (14-8, 3.75 ERA) starts for the Boston Red Sox. … Yankees LHP CC Sabathia (13-13, 4.90 ERA) will start Friday against San Francisco Giants RHP Tim Lincecum (10-13, 4.40 ERA) in the opener of a three-game series at Yankee Stadium.