TORONTO — Four innings and a dozen outs stood between the Yankees and a three-game weekend sweep of the Blue Jays.
So when Ivan Nova climbed the Rogers Centre mound for the sixth yesterday with a two-run cushion, it wasn’t hard to believe the right-hander could negotiate the inning and require the bullpen to get nine outs.
After all, Nova had danced around trouble in holding the Blue Jays scoreless in the third, fourth and fifth innings.
But after Adam Lind led off with a walk and J.P. Arencibia dented the center-field wall with a double, Nova was pulled by Joe Girardi.
“The big at-bat was the walk to Lind,’’ Girardi said.
What followed was worse. Lefty Boone Logan surfaced to face left-handed hitter Colby Rasmus and gave up an RBI single. Enter right-hander David Phelps for the right-handed Brett Lawrie, whose broken-bat double scored two. An inning later, Arencibia crushed a two-run homer off Phelps.
Six runs in two frames was enough for an 8-4 Blue Jays victory in front of a sold-out crowd of 45,575 that sent the Yankees to Tampa Bay having won two of three games in their past three series.
“Our goal is to take every series, and if you can do that, you will be in good shape at the end of September,’’ said Girardi, whose club previously copped two of three from Arizona and Baltimore. “It’s not the way you want to leave, but we won two out of three. This place can be tough to play in, and our guys did a pretty good job.’’
Girardi was speaking of the entire weekend because Nova’s third outing had the same theme as the first two did: When he starts, multiple relievers must be ready.
“It makes me mad, I know I can do better than that,’’ said Nova, who gave up four runs, seven hits, walked four and hit a batter in five-plus innings that required 101 pitches.
In three starts, Nova has not recorded an out beyond the fifth frame.
“Four walks — too many,” he said. “I am not throwing strikes. I feel I can do better than that. I have to try and find a way to do it.’’
Even after Logan and Phelps allowed three of four inherited runners to score, the Yankees trailed by just two runs. But Arencibia’s two-run homer to center in the seventh put the game out of reach.
“Just making mistakes in the middle of the plate,’’ Girardi said of Phelps, who has given up six earned runs, seven hits, walked three and hit a batter in five innings during his last two appearances. “He is a guy who is pretty good living on the edges and he is not doing it right now.’’
Chris Stewart’s leadoff homer in the third cut the Blue Jays’ lead to 2-1. The Yankees went ahead on a pair of runs in the fifth when Josh Johnson issued consecutive bases-loaded, two-out walks to Lyle Overbay and Eduardo Nunez. Brett Gardner made it 4-2 in the sixth with a sacrifice fly.
A dozen outs to go and Nova, Logan and Phelps couldn’t make a 4-2 cushion work.
“I have to do better at hitting my spots,’’ Phelps said. “I live and die pitching to the glove. I am not making pitches. When I get to the middle of the plate, I get hurt.”