(Sports Network) - In a pivotal American League East battle, the Toronto Blue Jays will try to complete a sweep of the New York Yankees in today's final matchup of a three-game set at the Rogers Centre.
If the Blue Jays are going to finish off the Yanks in this series, they will need Brandon Morrow to duplicate his last outing. The last time the hard- throwing right-hander was on the mound, he surrendered just one run in seven innings against Tampa Bay last Monday.
It was just the second win in the last six starts for Morrow, who is now an impressive 4-1 at home this season.
The young hurler has made eight appearances against the Yankees, but this will be just his third start. In his previous showdowns against the Bronx Bombers, Morrow is 1-0 with a 3.94 earned run average.
The Yankees will look to Javier Vazquez, who has seemed to settle down since his early-season jitters. Vazquez, who was sent to the bullpen a few weeks ago, has won three times in his last four appearances. However, one of those victories came in relief.
The last time the veteran righty was on the rubber, he tossed seven solid innings against Baltimore on Tuesday, allowing just one run on four hits. Vazquez walked just one batter and finished with seven strikeouts.
Vazquez is no stranger to the Blue Jays, having faced them 14 times in his career. However, he has struggled to find success against the AL East foe, posting just a 4-7 ledger to go along with a 4.17 ERA.
On Saturday, Aaron Hill lined a base hit to the left-field gap to score Edwin Encarnacion with the game-winning run as Toronto won a 14-inning pitching duel over the Yankees by a 3-2 score.
Chad Gaudin (0-3), New York's fifth reliever of the game, walked Encarnacion on four pitches to open the 14th. Fred Lewis moved the runner into scoring position with a well-placed sacrifice bunt, and Hill laced an 0-2 offering to left to score the winning run without a play at the plate.
"This was one of the biggest wins of the year for us," Hill said. "But every win is big and you have to keep going."
Vernon Wells and Alex Gonzalez each had a solo home run for the Blue Jays, who have taken the first two tests of this set and moved within 1 1/2 games of the Yankees for second place in the AL East.
Derek Jeter had two hits and a two-run homer for New York, which had won five straight coming into the series.
Blue Jays starter Ricky Romero and his counterpart, Andy Pettitte, finished with similar lines in no-decisions. The left-handers each gave up two runs on five hits, though Romero struck out seven with four free passes in eight terrific frames and Pettitte fanned 10 to go with three walks in 7 2/3 solid innings.
Both bullpens were equally stingy, as no runner in extra innings reached second base with less than two outs until the bottom of the 14th.
"Our relievers threw the ball great," Yankees manager Joe Girardi. "So did theirs. Unfortunately we didn't win [Saturday]."
Casey Jansen (4-0) anchored Toronto's relief effort with two scoreless innings to get the win in the four-hour, nine-minute affair
This series marks the first meetings between these divisional foes in 2010. New York won 12 of its 18 matchups with the Jays last season and recorded a 6-3 mark at Rogers Centre in 2009.