TORONTO Brett Lawrie of Langley hit a two-run home run and right-hander Brandon Morrow pitched seven shutout innings on Thursday as the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the New York Yankees 6-0.
Edwin Encarnacion went 3-for-4 with three runs batted in, two on a fifth-inning double, as the Blue Jays (69-87) opened a seven-game home stand to close their season. Encarnacion leads the Blue Jays with 110 RBIs.
J.P. Arencibia hit his 18th homer of the season in the eighth against reliever David Aardsma.
The loss cut the Yankees (90-66) lead to one game over the idle Baltimore Orioles in the American League East.
Morrow (9-7) held the Yankees to four hits and three walks while striking out three to gain his first victory since Aug. 31. He had two losses in his previous four starts.
Right-hander Ivan Nova (12-8), the Yankees starter, allowed six hits, including Lawrie's third-inning homer, two walks and four runs in 4 2 /3 innings.
Blue Jays shortstop Yunel Escobar received a few boos from the crowd in his first at-bat in the first but there was little crowd reaction to him after that.
It was his first appearance in Toronto since the club suspended him for three games last week for writing a homophobic slur on his eyeblack for a game at Rogers Centre against Boston on Sept. 15. Escobar lined out to the shortstop.
The eyeblack incident had created some backlash among Toronto baseball fans before Thursday's game, however.
An online petition asking the Blue Jays to create a You Can Play video encouraging the acceptance of homosexuals in sports has been started by openly-gay Blue Jays fan Christopher Papps.
The Blue Jays took a two-run lead in the third on Lawrie's 10th homer of the season that followed a oneout walk by Anthony Gose. Gose was prominent in left field in the fourth. He ran down a drive to the wall in left centre hit by Nick Swisher and then threw to second baseman Kelly Johnson who in turn threw to first baseman Adam Lind to double up Robinson Cano at first base to end the inning.
TIGERS 5, ROYALS 4
DETROIT - The Kansas City Royals may have another chance next week to spoil Detroit's bid for a second straight AL Central title.
They sure didn't make the most of this week's opportunity.
Doug Fister set an AL record by striking out nine straight batters and the Tigers kept their lead in the division, beating Kansas City 5-4 Thursday on Alex Avila's grounder in the ninth inning. The Royals lost four straight at Comerica Park and made five errors in the finale.
Thanks to the White Sox' 3-2 loss to Tampa Bay, the Tigers stretched their lead over Chicago to two games.
