LUCKY HUTCHISON WINS IT AGAIN

Thanks to a little luck and a lot of good pitching, the Toronto Blue Jays staved off a sweep at the hands of the New York Yankees. Drew Hutchison turned in his second straight strong start, and the top of the lineup made the most of a ball getting lost in the sun as the Blue Jays beat the Yankees 3- 1 Sunday afternoon at Rogers Centre.

Toronto cut New York’s lead in the American League East back down to a half- game with seven games left between the division rivals.

In 6 2/ 3 innings, Hutchison allowed just four baserunners on three hits, including a solo home run. The much- maligned right- hander with a five- plus earned- run average ( 5.06) struck out five to become the 14th pitcher in the majors to hit 12 victories this season.

Hutchison got there because the Blue Jays took advantage of their biggest break of the day, when Yankees outfielder Carlos Beltran lost a fly ball in the sun in the third inning. Troy Tulowitzki ended up on second with what was later scored a double. An RBI single by Josh Donaldson got the Blue Jays on the board, and a two- run shot by Jose Bautista, his 28th home run of the season, broke open an inning that could’ve been over.

Base- running blunders kept the Blue Jays from doing any more damage, as did Yankees starter Luis Severino, who struck out a career- high nine in his third major- league start. At 21, Severino became the youngest Yankees pitcher to strike out nine or more since 20- year- old Ray Keating in 1914.

Hutchison helped the Blue Jays ( 65- 54) make some more history of their own. He made it the 20th straight game that the starting pitcher allowed three or fewer earned runs, extending a franchise- record set Saturday. The 24- year- old left to a rousing standing ovation from the sellout crowd of 46,792. Relievers Brett Cecil, Aaron Sanchez and Roberto Osuna finished the Yankees ( 64- 52) off to make the Blue Jays 14- 3 since making a flurry of trades in late July.