TORONTO — Drew Hutchison has given the Toronto rotation a nice boost this year in his first season back since undergoing Tommy John surgery.
He has had troubles at Rogers Centre though and one rough inning proved costly on Wednesday night against New York.
Mark Teixeira hit a two-run homer in the Yankees’ four-run third inning as New York (40-37) salvaged the finale of a three-game series with a 5-3 victory. The Yankees ended a four-game losing skid and moved 2 1/2 games behind first-place Toronto (44-36) in the American League East.
“I felt I got stronger as the game went on,” Hutchison said. “It was disappointing to have that big inning, especially to allow three runs with two outs and not be able to make that big pitch.
“It turned out to be the difference in the game.”
Former Blue Jay Kelly Johnson reached on a walk to open the frame and scored on a Francisco Cervelli double. Hutchison (5-6) got the next two outs before giving up a single to Jacoby Ellsbury that brought Cervelli across with the go-ahead run.
Teixeira padded the lead by turning on an 0-1 pitch for his 14th homer of the year.
“Hutchison pitched really well, he only made a couple of mistakes that one inning and we made him pay,” Teixeira said. “Other than that, he was throwing some dirty pitches. It was good to get the four runs when we got them.”
Hutchison, a 23-year-old right-hander, has a 4-2 record and 2.23 earned-run average on the road. But he entered play with a 1-3 record and 8.72 ERA at home.
“That’s the farthest thing away from my mind,” Hutchison said of the uneven splits. “I’m disappointed that I was not able to deliver a better performance for us and not give us a better chance to win.”
New York starter Hiroki Kuroda (5-5) was effective over 6 1/3 innings and David Robertson got the last five outs for his 18th save. Ellsbury had three of New York’s nine hits.
Jose Reyes, who had three hits for Toronto, took the first pitch from Kuroda over the wall for his sixth homer of the season. It was his third leadoff home run of the year and 21st of his career. Reyes scored again in the fifth inning after he moved Munenori Kawasaki to third base with a ground-rule double. Melky Cabrera brought them both home with a sharp single to left field.
Hutchison struck out the side in the sixth inning and was replaced in the seventh by left-hander Rob Rasmussen. Hutchison allowed seven hits, four earned runs and two walks while striking out six.