Bronx, NY (Sports Network) – Ricky Romero threw his third complete game of the season and was backed by four Toronto home runs, as the Blue Jays beat the New York Yankees, 8-2, in the middle contest of a three-game series.
Romero (9-7) gave up two runs on only two hits and one walk, and retired the final 15 batters he faced.
Jose Bautista hit his major-league leading 33rd homer of the season for the Blue Jays, who also won in the opener of this set. Travis Snider, Vernon Wells and Aaron Hill also went deep for Toronto, which has an MLB-best 167 homers.
Dustin Moseley (1-1) allowed five runs on nine hits and a walk in 7 1/3 innings for the Yankees, who have dropped three in a row. They also fell a game behind Tampa Bay in the AL East standings, as the Rays took the division lead with a defeat of Minnesota.
Alex Rodriguez went 0-for-3 and is still in search of his 600th career homer, having hit No. 599 on July 22. Moreover, Rodriguez’s overall struggles at the plate continued, as he is 0-for-16 his last five games.
The Yankees grabbed the lead in the first inning on Mark Teixeira’s home run. With Derek Jeter on first after a walk, Teixeira got a 1-2 changeup slightly inside and high enough to crush to left field for his 23rd homer of 2010.
Toronto got one of those runs back in the second on an RBI single by John Buck, then took the lead in the fourth.
With two outs, Hill was hit by a pitch before scoring on Buck’s double. Snider followed by hitting a first-pitch changeup to right-center field for a 4-2 edge.
Moseley held the Blue Jays off the board over the next three innings, but gave up a leadoff homer to Wells in the eighth, as Wells ripped a low curveball deep to left.
Moseley retired Adam Lind before being removed in favor of Kerry Wood, who gave up a homer to Hill before getting out of the inning.
Romero remained on the mound to begin the eighth and got three consecutive groundouts, while Bautista added a two-run shot in the ninth off Sergio Mitre. Romero worked a 1-2-3 ninth to secure the victory.
Moseley made his second start of the season…Teixeira and Marcus Thames had New York’s only hits…Toronto leads the season series, 5-3…Wells homered for the second straight game.