Yankees Fall in Toronto 5 - 2

Alex Rodriguez hits his 650th career home run but it wasn't enough, as the Yankees fall to the Toronto Blue Jays 5-2 on Monday night.

The Blue Jays snap a 10 game losing streak against the Yankees with their victory led by the knuckle-baller R.A. Dickey who went seven strong innings. Jose Reyes and Edwin Encarnacion sparked the Toronto offense. 

The Yankees took a early first inning lead when Brett Gardner singled, went to second on a passed ball, reached third on a Jeter ground ball, and then scored when Dickey was unable to handle a comebacker from Robinson Cano. 

Toronto tied it in the second on a RBI single by Kevin Pillar, and it was followed up by a RBI single from Edwin Encarnacion in the third to take a 2-1 lead.  

Alex Rodriguez leads off the fifth with a home run to Right field. His third of the season and also his 650th of his career putting him just 10 home runs shy of tying Willie Mays for fourth on the career list. It tied the game at two in the bottom of the fifth, but the Blue Jays responded with a three run inning for a 5-2 lead. Reyes hit a one out double, Ryan Goins singled and Reyes scored when Ichiro Suzuki couldn't handle Encarnacion's deep fly ball to right. 

Adam Lind drove in a run with a RBI double and Brett Lawrie was intentionally walked to the load the bases for Moises Sierra, who hit a sacrifice fly. David Huff came on to relieve Hughes and struck out Josh Thole on three pitches.

Phil Hughes went 4.2 innings allowing five runs, four earned on seven hits, and he is now (4-13) on the season. 

Monday also marked the return of the Yankee captain Derek Jeter from the DL. Jeter went hitless in his return to the lineup. He also started at shortstop and batted second but finished 0 for 3 with a walk.

"He looked fine" said Girardi "everything looked OK to me"

Girardi also commented on the Error by Suzuki, saying the error was tough on Hughes and insisted that the right handed pitcher's spot on the rotation was safe. Although Hughes is 0-6 with a 5.84 ERA in his last nine starts. "Right now he's in our rotation and we haven't talked about taking him out" Girardi said. 

New York is 4.5 games behind the A's for that second wild card spot.  They will need to push hard this last month of the regular season if the want to earn that last playoff berth. Tonight Andy Pettitte (9-9, 4.26 ERA) takes the mound as he faces off against J.A. Happ (3-3, 5.10 ERA). Yankees need a solid start from Pettitte and some run support to stay in the playoff race.