By IAN HARRISON Associated Press
TORONTO (AP) _ Jacoby Ellsbury and Chase Headley homered, and the New York Yankees beat the slumping Toronto Blue Jays 6-3 on Friday night.
Chris Capuano (2-3) pitched 6 1-3 innings in his first win in seven starts since joining the Yankees. The veteran left-hander was acquired last month in a trade with Colorado.
David Robertson got the final four outs for his 35th save in 38 chances.
Jose Bautista homered and Dioner Navarro had three hits, but the Blue Jays dropped to 7-17 in August. Mark Buehrle (11-9) allowed four runs and seven hits in six innings in another loss to New York.
Bautista put Toronto in front with a second-deck homer in the fourth, his third in three games. It’s the first time Bautista has connected in three straight games since July 1-3, 2011.
New York answered with a five-run seventh, with the first four batters reaching against Buehrle. Brian McCann doubled, Carlos Beltran walked and Brett Gardner hit an RBI double, with Beltran scoring on an errant relay throw by second baseman Steve Tolleson.
Aaron Loup came on after Ichiro Suzuki’s infield single, and Gardner made it 3-1 when he scored on a wild pickoff throw by catcher Navarro. Two pitches later, Ellsbury lined a two-run homer to right. It was the first homer by a left-handed batter in Loup’s career, snapping a streak of 233 at-bats.
Buehrle dropped to 1-13 with a 6.14 ERA in 20 career starts against New York. The veteran left-hander is 0-11 in his last 16 outings against the Yankees.
More importantly for the sliding Blue Jays, Buehrle is 1-8 in his last 15 starts this season.
Kevin Pillar chased Capuano with an RBI double in the seventh, and Melky Cabrera’s sacrifice fly made it 5-3, but Adam Warren got Edwin Encarnacion to fly out with runners at first and second.
Headley made it 6-3 with a first-pitch homer off Dustin McGowan in the ninth.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Yankees: Injured Yankees ace Masahiro Tanaka is being sent back to New York because of general soreness in his right arm. Tanaka will play light catch and work out every day at Yankee Stadium over the weekend, but manager Joe Girardi said it would be “maybe a week” before Tanaka throws another bullpen.
Blue Jays: OF Colby Rasmus returned to the lineup at DH after missing the previous two games with an illness. … RHP Brandon Morrow (right index finger) will make his second rehab appearance on Saturday, this time with Triple-A Buffalo. Morrow threw one scoreless inning for Class-A Dunedin on Wednesday.
UP NEXT
Yankees RHP Michael Pineda (3-2) faces Blue Jays RHP Drew Hutchison (8-11) on Saturday. Pineda is 1-0 with a 2.08 ERA in three starts since returning from the disabled list after missing 87 games with a sore shoulder.
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