5-RUN 9TH COMPLETES YANKS COMEBACK

7 Straight Batters Reach to Open Final Frame

TORONTO, June 25 (AP) - The New York Yankees scored the game's final six runs, completing a stunning comeback with a five-run top of the ninth inning, and went on to defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 10-7 at Rogers Centre.  The Yankees opened the ninth inning with seven consecutive batters reaching base safely, only the second time this season the feat has been accomplished in the ninth inning and the only time it's resulted in a victory.

The contest was a seesaw affair for the first five innings.  The Jays scored first, in the bottom of the opening frame.  Melky Cabrera singled with one out, advanced to second on a Hiroki Kuroda wild pitch, and scored on Edwin Encarnacion's base hit.  The Yankees evened the score in the top of the second on Carlos Beltran's eighth home run of the year leading off the inning.

Toronto reclaimed the lead in the third when Cabrera again singled with one out, advanced to third on Adam Lind's double and scored on Encarnacion's ground out.  Lind trotted home when Dioner Navarro followed with a base hit, giving the Jays a 3-1 lead.

New York roared back in front in the fifth against Toronto starter Drew Hutchison.  Brian Roberts led off with a double and advanced to third on Kelly Johnson's base hit.  After Francisco Cerveilli struck out, Bret Gardner blasted a Hutchison offering into the second tier in right field for a three-run home run and a 4-3 Yankees lead.

But Kuroda couldn't hold it.  In the bottom of the fifth, after retiring the first two batters without incident, he yielded a base hit to Lind and Encarnacion, who was already having a big day, blasted a home run off the facade of the third level in left, putting the Jays back on top 5-4.  It was the sixth time this season that Encarnacion, Toronto's RBI leader and tied for second in the AL in RBIs, had driven in four runs in a game, most in the major leagues this year.

The Jays upped the lead to 7-4 with two more runs in the sixth off reliever David Huff.  Munenori Kawasaki singled, advanced to second on Cervelli's passed ball, and scored on Adam Gose's base hit.  Gose stole second, took third on Jose Reyes' fly to right and came home on Cabrera's sacrifice fly.

The Yankees edged closer in the eighth when Jacoby Ellsbury drew a walk from reliever Todd Redmond, advanced to third on Mark Texeira's double and scored on Beltran's ground out, but the Jays held a 7-5 heading into the ninth.

Casey Janssen came on looking for his 10th save.  Janssen had replaced Sergio Santos as the Toronto closer in May.  The Jays' save percentage--53%--is the worst in the American League and the bullpen has struggled all year, but it had mostly gone well for Janssen since his recall on May 11, as he entered the game with a 1.96 ERA in 19 outings.  That would come to an end, and swiftly.  Johnson led off by lacing a double into the right field corner.  Brian McCann pinch hit for Cervelli and rolled a single into center field, with Johnson stopping at third.  The tying runs were now on base.  Gardner cranked a double to left-center, scoring Johnson and chasing McCann to third.  It was now 7-6 and the potential go-ahead run was at second base, with no outs.  Derek Jeter followed with a single to left, scoring McCann to tie the game with Gardner holding at third.  That was it for Janssen.  He'd officially blown the save--the game was now tied at seven--and was replaced on the mound by Chad Jenkins.  But the Yankees just kept on hitting.  Ellsbury dropped a single into left field, scoring Gardner to give the Yankees an 8-7 lead, and advancing Jeter to second.  Texeira drew a walk, loading the bases.  Beltran lined a single to right, scoring Jeter to make it 9-7, and leaving the bases still loaded.  Jenkins struck out Alfonso Soriano for the first out but Roberts lifted a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Ellsbury to make it 10-7 before Johnson flied out to finally end the inning.  10 batters came to the plate, the first seven reached base and five of them scored.

Any thoughts of another Jays comeback were dashed when David Robertson came on and retired the side in the bottom of the ninth, in order, on seven pitches, successfully converting his 15th consecutive save dating back to April 24.

6/25/2014, NYA14-Tor14, Rogers Centre

                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9     R  H  E   LOB DP

2014 Yankees           0  1  0  0  3  0  0  1  5    10 14  0     7  0

2014 Blue Jays         1  0  2  0  2  2  0  0  0     7 13  0     7  1

Yankees              AB  R  H BI   AVG    Blue Jays            AB  R  H BI   AVG

Gardner           lf  5  2  3  4  .311    Reyes             ss  5  0  0  0  .238

Jeter             ss  4  1  2  1  .213    Cabrera,Me        lf  4  2  2  1  .332

Ellsbury          cf  3  2  1  1  .269    Lind              1b  5  2  2  0  .400

Teixeira          1b  4  0  1  0  .179    Encarnacion       dh  5  1  2  4  .223

Beltran           dh  5  1  2  3  .222    Navarro,D         c   5  0  2  1  .303

Suzuki,I          rf  3  0  0  0  .303    Francisco,J       3b  3  0  1  0  .241

 Soriano,A        ph  2  0  0  0  .196     Tolleson,St      pr  0  0  0  0  .232

Roberts,B         2b  4  1  1  1  .216    Rasmus,Col        cf  4  0  1  0  .247

Johnson,Ke        3b  5  2  2  0  .197    Kawasaki          2b  4  1  1  0  .205

Cervelli          c   3  0  1  0  .379    Gose              rf  4  1  2  1  .250

 McCann,B         ph  1  1  1  0  .282                         39  7 13  7

                     39 10 14 10

Yankees                          INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA

Kuroda                           4.2 10  5  5  0  4  84  53  4.58

Huff                             1.1  2  2  1  0  0  21  15  5.00

Warren                           1.0  0  0  0  1  2  18  10  3.07

Thornton         W 3-1           1.0  1  0  0  0  0  17  10  4.58

Robertson,Dav    S 17            1.0  0  0  0  0  1   8   7  1.75

                                 9.0 13  7  6  1  7 148  95

Blue Jays                        INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA

Hutchison                        6.0  5  4  4  2  5  95  55  4.84

Redmond          H 4             1.0  3  1  1  1  1  24  14  2.33

Loup             H 8             1.0  0  0  0  0  0  10   7  1.57

Janssen          BS 3, L 0-1     0.0  4  4  4  0  0  19  10  3.93

Jenkins                          1.0  2  1  1  1  1  21  15  3.22

                                 9.0 14 10 10  4  7 169 101

NYA: Soriano,A batted for Suzuki,I in the 8th

     Soriano,A moved to rf in the 8th

     McCann,B batted for Cervelli in the 9th

     McCann,B moved to c in the 9th

Tor: Tolleson,St ran for Francisco,J in the 7th

     Tolleson,St moved to 3b in the 8th

2B-Gardner(20), Teixeira(6), Roberts,B(16), Johnson,Ke(8), Lind(18).

HR-Gardner(6), Beltran(8), Encarnacion(17). RBI-Gardner 4(31), Jeter(21),

Ellsbury(37), Beltran 3(23), Roberts,B(27), Cabrera,Me(40),

Encarnacion 4(54), Navarro,D(32), Gose(10). SB-Ellsbury(19), Gose 2(7).

K-Gardner, Teixeira, Johnson,Ke 2, Cervelli 2, Soriano,A, Reyes, Navarro,D 2,

Rasmus,Col, Kawasaki 2, Gose. BB-Jeter, Ellsbury 2, Teixeira, Francisco,J.

SF-Roberts,B, Cabrera,Me. PB-Cervelli. WP-Kuroda.

GWRBI: Ellsbury

Temperature: 91, Sky: