Blue Jays settle for split after dropping 6-2 decision to Yankees

Yankees slugger Mark Teixeira had three doubles and scored a run while Bartolo Colon was steady over six-plus innings as New York defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 6-2 on Wednesday night.

New York (10-6) scored three early runs off Jays starter Brett Cecil, who lasted five innings. Colon (1-1) allowed five hits and struck out seven to help the Yankees salvage a split of the two-game series at Rogers Centre.

J.P. Arencibia hit a solo homer for the Blue Jays, who fell three games behind the first-place Yankees in the American League East. Toronto (8-10) has dropped four of its last five games.

New York led 3-0 after two innings and put up two more runs in the fifth to chase Cecil (1-2), who gave up five earned runs, walked four batters and had four strikeouts.

New York third baseman Alex Rodriguez returned to the lineup after missing two games with a sore left oblique. He knocked in a run with a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning. Rodriguez drove a pitch to deep centre that scored Nick Swisher, who started the rally with a single and moved to third on a Teixeira double. Robinson Cano followed with another sacrifice fly to make it a 5-1 game.

Teixeira reached again on a ground-rule double in the seventh inning and moved to third on wild pitch. He was left stranded when reliever Luis Perez got Cano to ground out.

The Jays knocked Colon out of the game in the bottom half of the frame. Edwin Encarnacion hit a one-out double and Arencibia followed with a walk. Travis Snider drove a single to right field but Encarnacion was held at third base. Arencibia made a baserunning gaffe by continuing to run to third, giving the Yankees an easy out.

David Robertson relieved Colon with runners on the corners and Jayson Nix greeted him with a sharp single to centre that scored Encarnacion. John McDonald struck out to end the threat.

Frank Francisco made his Blue Jays debut in the ninth inning and Curtis Granderson smacked his first pitch into the second deck in right field for his sixth homer of the year. Francisco and Jon Rauch are expected to battle for the closer’s role this season.

Toronto loaded the bases in the ninth before Rafael Soriano got the final two outs for his first save.

Yankees catcher Russell Martin of Chelsea, Que., scored a run and had two of New York’s nine hits. The Blue Jays had eight hits in the game, which took two hours 59 minutes to play. The announced attendance was 26,062.

The Yankees loaded the bases in the first inning but could only push one run across. Cano hit a weak grounder to first that brought Swisher home from third base. Cecil got out of the jam by striking out Andruw Jones.

Arencibia got the Blue Jays on the board in the second inning with a solo shot to left-centre field, his third homer of the season. He showed off his arm in the next inning by throwing out Rodriguez at second base on an attempted steal.

Notes: It was Colon’s first major-league regular season start since July 24, 2009, when he pitched for the Chicago White Sox against Detroit. The 2005 American League Cy Young Award winner did not pitch in the majors last year and the Yankees signed him as a minor-league free agent in the off-season. … Blue Jays second baseman Aaron Hill did not play after injuring his right hamstring a night earlier. MRI exam results are expected Thursday and Hill is listed as day to day. Nix started at second base, McDonald played third and Encarnacion was the designated hitter. … Toronto continues its homestand Friday night with the opener of a three-game series against Tampa Bay. Southpaw Jo-Jo Reyes (0-2) is expected to start against Tampa right-hander Jeremy Hellickson (1-2). The Yankees will wrap up their five-game road trip this weekend in Baltimore.