By RICK FREEMAN AP Sports Writer
NEW YORK (AP) _ Brian McCann hit a go-ahead, two-run homer and later added a bases-loaded triple to help the New York Yankees to a 7-3 win over the first-place Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday night.
The Yankees beat Mark Buehrle for the ninth straight time and handed the Blue Jays their 15th loss in a row in the Bronx.
Rookie Chase Whitley (3-0) remained unbeaten in seven starts since making his big league debut this season.
Buehrle (10-4) was trying to tie Yankees ace Masahiro Tanaka for the most wins in the majors. He gave up three runs and six hits in six innings and lost his third straight start overall.
Buehrle is 1-11 lifetime against the Yankees, with his lone win coming in 2004 while with the Chicago White Sox.
McCann tied his career high with five RBIs. Toronto’s Jose Bautista had an RBI double in the eighth for his 1,000th career hit.
The Yankees have taken the first two in a three-game series against Toronto.
McCann’s third big league triple, and first since 2009 with Atlanta, came off left-hander Brett Cecil, who had been brought in to face pinch-hitter Ichiro Suzuki with the Blue Jays down 3-2 in the seventh.
Cecil walked Suzuki with the bases loaded to force in a run before McCann put the game safely out of reach.
McCann was hitting .174 for June before his homer in the fourth, which was measured at 348 feet _ not far enough to clear most fences in the majors. He helped the Yankees respond after the Blue Jays took a 2-1 lead on two-out RBI singles by Colby Rasmus and Dioner Navarro in the top half.
Alfonso Soriano’s first-inning single put the Yankees on the board.
Whitley gave up two runs and five hits in five innings. He walked Melky Cabrera in the fifth, ending his streak of starts without a walk at three. His last walk was May 26 against the Cardinals.
NOTES: Derek Jeter saw six pitches in his first four at-bats, going 0 for 4 before he popped up a bunt attempt in the seventh. He hit a double off the wall in the eighth, giving him 533, one behind Lou Gehrig as the Yankees leader. . Brett Gardner singled his first four times for the Yankees before a lineout in the eighth. . McCann was the first Yankees catcher to have a homer, a triple and five RBIs since Elston Howard on Aug. 19, 1962. … Toronto 3B Brett Lawrie was hit in back of the left hand by a pitch in the fourth inning replaced by Steve Tolleson in the bottom of the fifth. Tolleson had appeared in the on-deck circle the inning before. X-rays did not appear show any broken bones. … The series ends Thursday night, with Yankees RHP David Phelps (2-4) set to face righty Drew Hutchison (5-4). … The Yankees’ longest home winning streak vs. any team was 19 in a row over Cleveland from June 1960 to April 1962, the team said in citing the Elias Sports Bureau. … Toronto’s Melky Cabrera extended his streak of games with a hit against his former team to 18 with a first-inning single.
(© Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
