AP News
(2010-07-04 21:14:00)
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The New York Yankees persevered for an 7-6 extra innings win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday despite a second blown save of the season by closer Mariano Rivera.
Robinson Cano led off the bottom of the 10th inning with a walk and later scored the game winning run on a broken bat single by pinch hitter Marcus Thames.
The Yankees, with owner George Steinbrenner celebrating his 80th birthday, looked poised for victory after taking a 6-5 lead in the seventh inning and Rivera coming to the mound in the bottom of the ninth.
But the Blue Jays forced extras when Lyle Overbay led off with a single and scored his second run of the game on a single by Dewayne Wise.
The game featured several exciting plays including three in a wild fifth inning and an inside the park home run in the sixth by Brett Gardner that leveled the score at 5-5.
The Blue Jays erased a 3-1 deficit in the fifth with a three-run homerun off the bat of Wise that hit the right field foul pole, and two Yankees runners being thrown out at the plate on successive hits in the bottom half of the inning.
The Blue Jays threw out another runner at the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning with the Yankees trying to add to a 6-5 lead.
Relief pitcher David Robertson picked up his first win of the season for New York and David Purcey was tagged with the loss for Toronto.
(Reporting by Mike Mouat in Windsor, Ontario. Editing by Justin Palmer)
