BLAST OFF: Russell Martin, who is batting .212 on the season, watches his three-run home run during the sixth inning of the Yankees’ 11-4 victory over the Blue Jays in Toronto last night. Martin finished the game 2-for-4 with three RBIs and a walk. (AP)
TORONTO — An excruciating loss Tuesday, a no-show defeat Thursday and the Orioles facing Aaron Cook turned last night’s game against the Blue Jays into a must-win for the Yankees to keep their skeletal lead in the AL East.
“We know we have to win, but we have been through a lot of that this month,’’ manager Joe Girardi said. “You focus on what you can do.’’
Russell Martin focused enough to club a three-run homer in the sixth, pick Yunel Escobar off third and help get Hiroki Kuroda the victory in an 11-4 win over the inept Blue Jays in front of an announced crowd of 25,785 at Rogers Centre.
The victory lowered the Yankees’ magic number over the second-place Orioles in the AL East race to five. The Orioles spanked Cook and the Red Sox and remain one game back with five games to play.
It may have come with a price tag, however. Robinson Cano was hit by a pitch on the left hand in the fifth inning. Though he remained in the game and added an RBI single in the eighth, he was taken for a test afterward inside the Rogers Centre.
The Yankees’ medical department “didn’t put much weight in it’’ and Cano was taken to a hospital for more X-rays.
Kuroda (15-11, 3.34 ERA) picked up the victory — but struggled.
“I didn’t think any of my pitches were crisp,’’ said Kuroda, who gave up 10 hits and two walks but just two runs in 5 1/3 innings. “It was difficult finding the zone.’’
Through two innings the Blue Jays had five hits (three doubles) and a walk but no runs because of bonehead decisions on the bases by Lawrie and Escobar.
“Our defense picked [Kuroda] up in the first two innings,’’ Girardi said.
With Lawrie on first via a leadoff double in the opening inning, Colby Rasmus hit a bullet at first baseman Nick Swisher.
“His first instinct was to go to third,’’ Swisher said of the very aggressive Lawrie, who stopped and went back to second. “[Derek] Jeter made a nice back-door pick and I hit him in stride.’’
In the second, Alex Rodriguez noticed Escobar wandering off third too far and signaled Martin to throw down on the next pitch. That happened to be a third strike on Kelly Johnson and Martin’s throw was perfect.
Martin’s blast in the sixth pushed the Yankees’ lead from 3-1 to 6-1 and was the catcher’s 20th of the season, a career high.
Swisher drove in the game’s first two runs with a double to right-center in the first and Ichiro Suzuki plated the fourth run of the sixth with a single. He went and went 2-for-5, scored a run, drove in a run and swiped a base.
Cano had two hits and has 10 hits in the last 16 at-bats.
Eric Chavez added a two-run homer in the ninth.
Manager Joe Girardi ended Kuroda’s night with one out in the sixth, the Yankees leading, 7-1, and two runners on. David Phelps replaced Kuroda (98 pitches).
“When you don’t have your best stuff and you win games, that says a lot about you,’’ Girardi said of Kuroda.
It also makes it easier for you when the other team runs the bases like they are drunk, stoned or stupid.