Sweep: CC and Homers Help Yankees Top Blue Jays, 9-3

CC Sabathia tossed 7 1/3 strong innings and was backed by three Yankees homers on the way to a 9-3 victory over the Blue Jays this afternoon. The victory gave the Bombers their fourth straight win.

The Yanks got on the board in the bottom of the first after Gardner walked, stole second, and later scored on a throwing error. 

In the third, Derek Jeter got retaliation in the best way possible. After Jesus Montero singled and Gardner was hit by a pitch, Jeter retaliated with his fifth homer of the year, deep into the left field seats, giving the Yankees a 4-0 lead.

Sabathia ran into some trouble in the fourth during an otherwise brilliant outing. After an Edwin Encarnacion single and a Brett Lawrie walk, Mark Teahen doubled to get the Jays on the board. A Jose Molina groundout brought the score to 4-2, but Sabathia got J.P. Arencibia to groundout and struck out DeWayne Wise to escape further damage.

On the day, Sabathia allowed six hits and walked one while striking out 10, the fifth time he has reached double digit strikeouts in a start this season. He was in control all day, throwing 79 of 111 pitches for strikes (71%) while forcing six grounduts to only two flyouts on the way to his 19th win of the season. He also retired 13 of the final 14 batters he faced.

The Yankee scoring continued in the sixth when Alex Rodriguez hit his 15th homer of the year, a solo shot to right to give the Yankees a 5-2 lead.

In the eighth, Jose Bautista brought the Jays within two when he launched a homer to left, his 40th of the year. But in the bottom half of the inning, Nick Swisher smacked his 22nd homer of the season to give the Yankees a 7-3 lead, and later, Jeter added a bases-loaded single that pushed the score to 9-3.

Cory Wade efficiently mopped* up the ninth, striking out two while walking one.

Box Score.

Play of the Game: Jeter's three-run homer (+14%).

Thoughts and observations after the jump...

• The binder must have been at a crossroads in the eighth. Sabathia had thrown 111 pitches and Jose Bautista was due up. The matchup said Sabathia, who has owned Bautista this season. But Rafael Soriano is a RHP and Sabathia's pitch count was rising. The result? Soriano came in, served up a meatball, and Bautista hit it somewhere near Jupiter.
• Derek Jeter is mashing lefty pitching.
• Jesus Montero had the first multi-hit game of his career.
• Sabathia has now doubled his double digit strikeout games as a Yankee. He had five combined in 2009 and 2010, and has five in 2011.
• *I am beginning to think that Wade doesn't deserve to be in the "mop" category.
• The Yankees have a two game lead in the loss column after Texas knocked Boston around, 11-4.