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NEW YORK(AP) Yankees shortstop
Derek Jeter
looked like an All-Star on Sunday, although that's hardly a surprise.
The fact that
Alfredo Aceves
also did caught plenty of folks off guard.
Jeter had four hits including the go-ahead two-run homer, and Aceves held Toronto to one hit over the final four innings as
New York rallied from a four-run deficit to beat the
Blue Jays
10-8 and move a season-best 15 games over .500.
''I thought the bullpen did a great job. They're capable of scoring a lot of runs,'' said Jeter, who was picked for his 10th
All-Star Game earlier in the day. ''We're playing well, we want it to continue. We've got another week before the break.''
It was New York's fifth straight win over the
Blue Jays
, whose five-run fourth inning gave them an 8-4 lead that never appeared safe on a day in which balls were again flying out
of Yankee Stadium. There were four homers hit - all of them to right field - to raise the total to 139 at the new ballpark
midway through the season.
Jonathan Albaladejo
(3-1), recalled after Chien-Ming Wang went on the disabled list with a shoulder injury, got the win in relief - even though
Aceves deserved most of the credit.
He finally turned off the offense and in the process earned his first save. Manager
Joe Girardi
elected to let him finish the game rather than turn to All-Star closer
Mariano Rivera
, who had pitched four of the past five games.
''Ace was great. Ace knows how to pitch, and that's what you see him do a lot of, with all the different pitches he has,''
Girardi said. ''He was great today.''
Hideki Matsui
homered and drove in four runs, and
Jorge Posada
had four hits and drove in three runs for the Yankees. Every player wearing pinstripes reached base, with All-Star first baseman
Mark Teixeira
walking three times.
''It was one of those weird games,'' Teixeira said. ''It came down to the bullpen.''
Aaron Hill
homered and drove in three runs for Toronto, and
Marco Scutaro
and
Adam Lind
each had a pair of RBIs. It just wasn't enough after Aceves took the mound.
''If we would have had one more hit here or there, or if we would have kept them from scoring some runs on a few occasions,
then we might have had a few wins here,''
Blue Jays
manager
Cito Gaston
said. ''But that's the game.''
The Yankees opened a 4-0 lead after the first two innings before Toronto scored three times in the third and put together
its big fourth. Scutaro's two-run single off
Joba Chamberlain
gave the
Blue Jays
a 6-4 lead, and Hill followed with his homer.
Chamberlain was lifted after Lind singled, leaving to a sarcastic round of applause, and
Scott Rolen
pushed his major league-leading hitting streak to 22 games before the Yankees finally got out of the inning.
They didn't waste any time starting their comeback.
Teixeira walked and Posada singled before Matsui hit his 13th homer, slicing the lead to 8-7 and joining
Ichiro Suzuki
as the only Japanese-born players to score 500 runs.
New York pushed ahead in the fifth on Jeter's homer off B.J. Ryan (1-1), prompting chants of ''
Derek Jeter
!''
Johnny Damon
walked moments later, and Posada's RBI double gave the Yankees' bullpen a cushion it wouldn't need.
''It was a tough loss, especially the length of the game. It was hot out there,'' said Hill, who along with
Roy Halladay
made the All-Star team for Toronto. ''Especially in the AL East, especially with those guys, no lead is a comfortable lead.''
It was another rotten outing in the Yankees' new $1.5 billion ballpark for Chamberlain, who must be beginning to wish they'd
play the games he starts in the old place next door. He's yet to win in nine tries at home this season, and needed 86 pitches
just to make it 3 2-3 innings.
The eight runs he allowed was a career high, although only three were earned.
Not that his counterpart fared much better.
Brett Cecil
, an emergency fill-in for
Scott Richmond
, gave up seven earned runs in 3 2-3 innings. He was also responsible for five of the
Blue Jays
' eight walks in a game that dragged on for 3 hours, 44 minutes.
''I didn't think we'd ever get to the ninth,'' Girardi said, ''the way things were going.''
NOTES: Yankees 3B
Alex Rodriguez
got the day off. ... Lind is one of five players up for the final spot on the AL All-Star roster in Internet voting.
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