TORONTO — On a night the Yankees put a team-wide hitting slump to sleep by muscling four homers and Andy Pettitte pitched like it was a decade ago, the best news for the Yankees was Robinson Cano didn’t suffer a season-ending hand injury.
Yankees killer J.A. Happ hit Cano on the left hand in the first inning. The Yankees’ best player left the game in the bottom of the inning and it was announced in the seventh that X-rays were negative and the All-Star second baseman was listed as day-to-day.
Happ fractured Curtis Granderson’s right forearm in spring training.
That good news on Cano enabled the Yankees to enjoy a 7-1 laugher over the Blue Jays in front of 34,047 at Rogers Centre that was fueled by two homers from Alfonso Soriano and solo blasts by Mark Reynolds and Alex Rodriguez.
It was Rodriguez’s 651st homer and second in as many nights. He is nine home runs away from tying Willie Mays for fourth place on the all-time list and receiving a $6 million bonus from the Yankees for doing it.
Pettitte won for the third straight start to improve to 10-9. In seven shutout innings, Pettitte allowed five hits.
The Yankees received another scare in the eighth when Eduardo Nunez, who replaced Cano, fell to the turf on a single to left in which he wasn’t near the play. Nunez clutched his right leg and was worked on by trainer Steve Donohue, but remained in the game.
Soriano homered in the first and third innings. Reynolds and Rodriguez went deep in the sixth and seventh, respectively.
Soriano homered in the first and third innings, the 399th and 400th of his career. Reynolds and Rodriguez went deep in the sixth and seventh, respectively. The offensive support came after the Yankees scored nine runs in the previous four games (three losses). During that stretch they batted .212 (28-for-132) overall and .087 (2-for-23) with runners in scoring position.