Paxton wins ninth straight
TORONTO — With his glove and his bat, Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner helped teammate James Paxton power his way to a ninth straight win.
Paxton pitched five innings extend his careerbest winning streak, Gardner homered twice and drove in five runs and New York hit five homers in a 133 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday.
Gleyber Torres and Luke Voit also homered for the Yankees, going backtoback off righthander Brock Stewart in the fifth, as the AL East leaders won for the 14th time in 19 games.
It was the ninth multihomer game of Gardner’s career and his second this season. He also hit two at Detroit Tuesday.
“He is killing it,” Paxton said. “He’s been great for us all year long, in the outfield and at the plate. Really doing it all.”
Torres connected one inning after slipping while trying to make a throw to first and appearing to hurt his right leg or knee. Torres was checked on the field and stayed in to hit his 37th homer before being replaced by Tyler Wade in the sixth.
Torres said his sore leg was “no big deal.”
DJ LeMahieu had four hits for New York, his AL-leading 58th multihit game of the season. The Yankees had 19 hits, matching their season high for a nineinning game.
New York failed to homer Friday, snapping a ninegame streak. The Yankees have 20 homers over their past seven games, and have hit multiple home runs in 14 of their past 19. They have an MLBbest 285 home runs this season, which is also a big league record for homers by any team in a year.
Mike Ford hit the fifth and final home run Saturday, a tworun blast off Justin Shafer in New York’s fourrun ninth.
Paxton (146) allowed one run on three hits, becoming the first Yankees pitcher since Mike Mussina to win nine consecutive starts. The lefthander’s 14 wins are also a career best.
“I didn’t have a lot in the tank today,” Paxton said, “didn’t have the best stuff, but was able to make pitches when I needed to to get out of innings.”
Mussina won his final two starts of the 2002 season, then seven straight to begin 2003. The last Yankees pitcher to win nine straight starts in the same season was Ron Guidry, who won 11 in a row in 1979.
Gardner homered off righthander Jacob Waguespack to begin the fourth, then added a threerun blast off Stewart in the fifth. He has 25 homers, extending his career high.
“We wouldn’t be this welloff without him, that’s for sure,” manager Aaron Boone said.
Gardner has 20 career home runs against Toronto, more than any other opponent.
The veteran outfielder also made a great play in center, leaping into the scoreboard to catch a drive by Toronto’s Danny Jansen in the fifth. According to Statcast, Gardner ran 126 feet to make the play.
“He just continues to play on both sides of the ball so well,” Boone said.
Waguespack (45) allowed three runs and seven hits in 32⁄3 innings. He is 04 with an 8.40 ERA in his past four starts.
“When you face these lineups, from top to bottom everybody is good,” Waguespack said. “They’re capitalizing on mistakes. With runners on base, you really have to execute your pitches.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Yankees: RHP Dellin Betances (lat) will fly to Toronto Saturday and is expected to be activated off the injured list Sunday, Boone said. Betances made his third rehab appearance with DoubleA Trenton Friday, allowing one run and two hits in one inning. He has not pitched for the Yankees this season. … SS Didi Gregorius got the day off. Gregorius played both games of Thursday’s doubleheader and played all 12 innings Friday.
Blue Jays: LHP Tim Mayza has a torn ligament in his left elbow and will undergo Tommy John surgery.