Brian McCann was supposed to be key to an offensive resurgence in The Bronx this season.
Instead, he has been a major reason the Yankees’ lineup has been a disappointment so far.
But in Wednesday’s 7-3 win over the Blue Jays, he showed why the Yankees invested $85 million in him this offseason.
In the fourth inning, McCann gave the Yankees a 3-2 lead with a two-run home run, his first homer since May 23, and he blew the game open in the seventh with a bases-loaded triple.
“It’s about time I contributed,” McCann said.
The catcher hadn’t even had an extra-base hit since June 6. His outburst helped Chase Whitley improve to 3-0 after another solid outing and sent Mark Buehrle (10-4) to his third straight defeat as the Yankees moved to within 2 ½ games of first-place Toronto.
Buehrle has now dropped nine straight decisions to the Yankees, dating back to 2004 — and no one played a bigger part than McCann.
“We really believe in him as an offensive force,” Joe Girardi said. “We’re going to see it more.”
Before the game, hitting coach Kevin Long said McCann and Carlos Beltran, who is also struggling, would come around.
“They’re just such a big part of our lineup that when they struggle, you’re going to notice it,” Long said. “These guys are huge factors and you have to believe that they will be for us.”
Long said no drastic measures were needed to fix either slugger.
“You have to stay the course, especially with guys who are as established as they are,” Long said.
McCann hadn’t found the seats at Yankee Stadium since May 17, despite the high hopes the team had of him taking advantage of the short right-field porch.
“I think we’ll catch up,” Long said. “Home runs come in bunches, especially here. When they don’t, it becomes a bit of a challenge. You have to trust it and know it’s going to happen.”
Whitley wasn’t as good as he had been in his previous two outings, when he lasted at least seven innings each time and surrendered just a pair of runs in each.
Toronto scored twice in the fourth and after McCann’s blast in the bottom of the inning put the Yankees back on top, Whitley hit a bit of a rough spot again the fifth.
A one-out walk to Melky Cabrera — Whitley’s first in 32 ¹/₃ innings — was followed by a visit from pitching coach Larry Rothschild, and then Whitley got two straight groundouts.
“They made him work hard,” Girardi said. “He gave us a great five innings and that was it.”
Solid outings from Whitley have become the norm since he was called up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in May.
“We weren’t really sure what we were going to get when he came up as a starter,” Girardi said. “Our expectations have changed a lot.”
The Yankees seemed destined to hold on for dear life once again, but they loaded the bases in the seventh with one out. Brett Gardner started it with one of his four singles and after pinch-hitter Ichiro Suzuki walked to force in a run, McCann hit his first triple since 2009 and matched a career-high with five RBIs.
Adam Warren pitched two scoreless innings in relief of Whitley. Jose Ramirez started the eighth and gave up back-to-back doubles, forcing Girardi to go to Dellin Betances, who had thrown two innings on Tuesday. Betances prevented further damage and David Robertson finished it in the ninth.
“This is the team we’re chasing,” Girardi said of Toronto. “So this was big.”