RONALD BLUM
AP Sports Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — The shortest of hits cost the New York Yankees big.
Brian McCann failed to get any outs on Dioner Navarro’s routine grounder to first with two men on.
Second baseman Brian Roberts couldn’t come up with Dan Johnson’s 70-foot bloop that landed on the infield grass and drove in the go-ahead run.
Johnson added a three-run homer in the ninth, and the Toronto Blue Jays ended their 17-game losing streak at Yankee Stadium with a 6-4 victory over New York on Saturday.
“Bounces don’t always go your way,” Roberts said.
McCann’s two-run homer off Drew Hutchison (7-9) put the Yankees ahead in the fourth. Chris Capuano, making his Yankees debut, allowed the Blue Jays to tie the score in the fifth on Melky Cabrera’s RBI double and Steve Tolleson’s sacrifice fly.
Toronto went ahead in the seventh after Shawn Kelley (1-3) walked Cabrera leading off, and Jose Bautista doubled him to third.
Navarro, who had three hits, followed with a grounder to McCann, an All-Star catcher playing first base this week because of Mark Teixeira’s strained back. McCann, whose 12 major league appearances at first have all been this season, took a step in, checked the runners, but allowed Navarro to get by him and reach on a fielder’s choice that loaded the bases.
“Instead of touching the bag and then making the play, I kind of just started charging,” McCann said. “First time I’ve seen it from that angle. I wish I could slowed the game down a little bit, but the game sped up on me.”
Kelley struck out Tolleson, and Johnson was jammed by left-hander Matt Thornton as the ball blooped to the right side. Roberts reacted slowly, and the ball landed on the grass in front of him, with McCann and Thornton not far away. All runners were safe, and Toronto led 3-2.
“Maybe it’s a play I’m supposed to make, but it didn’t happen,” Roberts said. “One guy does everything right and one guy does everything kind of wrong, and the result goes in favor of the one that does everything wrong.”
At first, Johnson thought the ball might be caught or even called an infield fly.
“When you lose 17 in a row, you deserve something like that,” Toronto manager John Gibbons said.
Being a left-hander, Thornton fell off to the third-base side of the mound.
“If I would have broke immediately, I probably would have been right in the mix of it, too,” he said. “And who knows? I might have run into Brian or Brian, and we would have all been laying in there and three runs scored.”
Johnson’s ninth-inning drive off Jeff Francis, which extended the lead to 6-2, was his first homer since hitting three for the Chicago White Sox at Cleveland on Oct. 3, 2012.
Aaron Loup walked a pair of batters with two outs in the eighth before throwing a called third strike past Brett Gardner on a 3-2 pitch. Casey Janssen allowed Carlos Beltran’s two-run homer in the ninth.
Toronto, which had not won at Yankee Stadium since Aug. 29, 2012, sent New York to just its second loss in eight games since the All-Star break.
“You don’t expect to beat a team that many times, but they got the best of us today,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.
Acquired from Colorado on Thursday, Capuano became the Yankees’ 11th starting pitcher and 47th player this season, nine short of the team record set last year. There still was no nameplate above his locker Saturday morning, but one was in place by the end of the game.
A reliever with Boston earlier this season, he allowed two runs, five hits and four walks in six innings. He stranded the bases loaded in 25-pitch first when he retired Johnson on an inning-ending flyout.
“I had a little nerves going in the beginning. Certainly wasn’t happy with the four walks but, you know, made some good pitches today when I had to,” Capuano said. “Was just thrilled to be out there.”
NOTES: Capuano became the first player to appear for the Yankees and the Red Sox in the same season since Darnell McDonald and Justin Thomas in 2012, according to STATS. … Girardi said Teixeira, out since last weekend, may hit off a tee or soft toss Sunday. … Both teams were warned in the first inning by plate umpire Alan Porter after Capuano hit Bautista in the ribs and Hutchison hit Beltran above the elbow. … Yankees CF Jacoby Ellsbury saved a run in the fourth when with a man on he sprinted to the gap in left-center, extended his glove and caught Colby Rasmus’ drive while falling. … The Yankees have started a rookie pitcher a 47 times this season. Entering Saturday, no other team had more than 30.
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