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Burnett pitches Yankees past Blue Jays

BY ERIK BOLAND | erik.boland@newsday.com

9:54 PM EDT, July 3, 2009

Yankees starter A.J. Burnett allowed two runs and struck out seven in seven innings in a 4-2 win over Toronto. (Photo by John Dunn / July 3, 2009)

A.J. Burnett said it was a matter of being "fed up'' with the way he was pitching. After lasting only 22/3 innings in a loss to Boston June 9 at Fenway Park, he vowed to turn things around.

He has. And he came through with yet another good outing in the Yankees' 4-2 win over Toronto Friday at Yankee Stadium.

Burnett (7-4, 3.83) allowed two runs, six hits and two walks in seven innings and has gone 3-1 with a 0.99 ERA in four starts since his Boston massacre. He has allowed three earned runs and 16 hits and struck out 33 in 271/3 innings in that span.

"I was not aware of the vow but I'm not surprised he's been able to back up what he said,'' manager Joe Girardi said. "He may be one of those guys that just seems to get stronger and better as the year goes on.''

That was the case last year for Toronto; Burnett was 6-7 with a 5.42 ERA in his first 16 games but was 12-3 with a 3.12 ERA in his final 19. Even including the bad outing in Boston, he is 5-2 with a 1.88 ERA in his last seven starts.

The key Friday? "Fastball command,'' Burnett said. "When I get ahead with that, I'm able to use the hook and then everything else, but it all starts with the No. 1.''

Burnett made just one big mistake all afternoon - an 0-and-2 fastball he left over the plate to Vernon Wells, who hit it over the wall in left to cut the Yankees' lead to 3-2 in the sixth.

The Yankees built the lead on a second-inning homer by Robinson Cano - who had been without an RBI since June 17 - and with a two-run fifth in which they had just one hit (on a bunt).

That was an inning that might have been looked at with regret on another day. The Yankees had a run in and the bases loaded with none out but scored only one more run on a passed ball. Burnett didn't need much support, though. He struck out Marco Scutaro with a 96-mph fastball to begin the game, and his final pitch was a 94-mph fastball that Aaron Hill popped up to end the seventh.

"When you're clicking on pitches, you don't really think about anything,'' Burnett said. "It's just all confidence out there. I'm going to go out and get strike one, and if I get ahead, I'm going to put you away.''

Phil Coke and Phil Hughes combined to pitch the eighth and Mariano Rivera worked a perfect ninth for his 21st save.

Coke and Hughes preserved a 3-2 lead and Rivera was given a two-run cushion when Alex Rodriguez homered off Jeremy Accardo in the bottom of the eighth. It was his 14th home run in only 50 games (169 at-bats) and fifth in his last eight games.

"We feel very good about our starters in the way they're throwing the baseball, and that's how you put streaks together,'' Girardi said. "We won seven in a row; we lost [Thursday] but bounced back and won today. That's how you put streaks together.''