Wednesday afternoon was a milestone day at Yankee Stadium. A good one for a New York Yankees pitcher, and one a Toronto Blue Jays pitcher would rather not be associated with as the Yankees won, 7-3.
Yankee closer Mariano Rivera worked a scoreless ninth inning, becoming the first pitcher in major league history to make 1,000 appearances for the same team. He is the 15th pitcher ever to pitch in at least 1,000 games.
Toronto pitcher Jo-Jo Reyes reached a mileston of a much less desirable sort. Reyes (0-4) started and took the loss for the Blue Jays, tying Matt Keough's major-league record of 28 winless starts. Keough set the mark for Oakland from September 6, 1978-August 8, 1979. Reyes has not won a game since June, 2008 when he was with Atlanta. He is now 0-13 in 31 appearance, 28 of them starts. Thursday, Reyes surrendered five runs in three innings.
For the Yankees, Andruw Jones hit a pair of two-run homers and Mark Teixeira added a two-run shot, as the Yankees took two of from the Blue Jays. Curtis Granderson doubled twice, drove in a run and scored one for the Yankees, who have won seven of their last nine games.
Freddy Garcia (3-4) threw 6 1/3 innings, yielding three runs on eight hits and struck out four without issuing a walk. The veteran right- hander had lost two straight and four of his previous five starts coming in.
The Yankees now head to the West Coast for a nine-game road trip. They will play three games each against the Seattle Mariners, Oakland Athletics and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.