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TORONTO (AP) — Russell Martin delivered a timely pinch hit — and gave Toronto's R.A. Dickey his first win of the season.
Martin singled home the go-ahead run in the eighth inning and the Blue Jays beat the Yankees 3-1 on Monday night, snapping New York's road winning streak at six games. Dickey (1-3) allowed one run and three hits in eight innings for his first victory in six starts.
"That's probably as good as I've seen him in three years," manager John Gibbons said of Dickey.
Dickey didn't strike out a batter for the second time in three starts, but wasn't bothered.
"I don't care much about the strikeouts," he said. "At this point, you just want to win games."
Yankees infielder Chase Headley said it's never easy facing Dickey's knuckleball.
"It's really tough because it's so much different than anything that you do," Headley said. "You can't really prepare for it."
Brett Cecil finished for his second save.
The Blue Jays were held scoreless for seven innings by Yankees right-hander Chase Whitley, but scored three in the eighth against relievers Chris Martin (0-1) and Dellin Betances.
Josh Donaldson and Jose Bautista chased Martin with one-out singles before Edwin Encarnacion greeted Betances with a bloop double that landed just inside the foul line in shallow left.
One out later, Martin grounded an RBI single to third. A diving Headley made the stop in foul territory, but first baseman Garrett Jones couldn't scoop Headley's low throw and the ball rolled away, allowing Encarnacion to score an unearned run.
"I thought we had him," Headley said. "It's a do-or-die play. I didn't even know if I had a chance to catch it. When I caught it, I just got up and threw it as hard as I could and almost got him."
Betances had pitched in 12 games without allowing a run, a streak that dated to his season-opening appearance, April 8 against Toronto.
"I don't think there's anything I could have really done different there," Betances said. "They just found holes."
New York opened the scoring in the seventh when Carlos Beltran hit a leadoff double and went to third on Stephen Drew's grounder. After Headley walked, Beltran scored on Jones' RBI grounder.
Whitley allowed six hits, walked none and struck out six.
Both teams threatened in the sixth, but neither could break the deadlock. Jacoby Ellsbury hit a two-out double and Brett Gardner walked, but Alex Rodriguez flied out.
Rookie second baseman Devon Travis singled to begin the bottom half and went to third on Donaldson's double, but Whitley kept it scoreless by getting Bautista to ground out, fanning Encarnacion and retiring Kevin Pillar on a pop up.
"That was great," Girardi said. "Just outstanding pitching on his part."
JACOBY SUSPENDED
Blue Jays hitting coach Brook Jacoby has been suspended 14 games for his postgame conduct toward the umpires following an April 29 game at Boston. Joe Torre, Chief Baseball Officer for Major League Baseball, announced the suspension Monday. The Blue Jays intend to appeal Jacoby's suspension and will not comment until their appeal is heard.
ROOKIE HONORS
Travis was named American League rookie of the month Monday. Travis, who had never played above Double-A before this season, hit six home runs in April while batting .325 with a .393 on-base percentage.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Yankees: C Brian McCann and 1B Mark Teixeira got the day off to rest.
Blue Jays: OF Michael Saunders had fluid drained from his left knee before the game and was held out of the starting lineup. Saunders underwent knee surgery in spring training to repair a torn meniscus suffered when he stepped on a sprinkler. ... Bautista will have his sore right shoulder re-examined following the series against the Yankees. Bautista has been unable to play the outfield since April 21, when he suffered a strain on a throw to first base.
UP NEXT
Blue Jays: RHP Marco Estrada makes his first start of the season Tuesday, replacing the recently demoted LH Daniel Norris. Estrada is 1-0 with an 0.84 ERA in six relief appearances.
Yankees: RHP Michael Pineda, who's 3-0 this season but 0-2 in three career road starts against the Blue Jays. Pineda has won his past five decisions, dating to last September.
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