Ivan Nova slammed by Blue Jays as Yankees' AL East lead shrinks

As far as the Yankees are concerned, they say they aren't.

Even after the Blue Jays beat them, 6-0, reducing their AL East lead to 21/2 games.

Even though Toronto has won seven straight, the last two at Yankee Stadium, and has gone 10-1 since July 28 to cut into an eight-game deficit.

Even though the Yankees have scored four runs and batted .176 in the last four games.

Still, they aren't concerned.

"The team issued a press release or like a specific member of the Yankees said that?'' Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista asked.

No, no official statement from the team, just the opinions of the manager and the few players who hung around to comment.

"There's a long way to go,'' Joe Girardi said in his postgame news conference. "I mean, you can make a lot of these two games -- and I said this is an important series going in -- but really, what's going to turn the division is you get two months to go . . . It's not two games . . . This is the one thing I know about this group, that they've been very resilient and they've bounced back very well.''

Said Chris Young, "Concerned? No, you don't worry about one team. You try to focus on yourself and focus on your own team. If you start getting too wrapped up in it, I think you lose focus on what you need to be doing as a team instead of worrying about some other guys too much.''

David Price -- who had allowed 16 runs and 22 hits in 41/3 innings in his previous two starts against the Yankees -- gave up three hits in seven innings to earn his second win for Toronto since his arrival from Detroit before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline. "Just one of his good days when he was able to control everything,'' Young said.

Ivan Nova and Price, who has allowed one run and six hits with 18 strikeouts in 15 innings as a Blue Jay, matched zeros until the sixth inning, when Nova had a rapid meltdown.

Josh Donaldson drew a one-out walk, Bautista singled through the hole at short and Edwin Encarnacion walked to load the bases. With Adam Warren quickly warming in the bullpen and Justin Smoak due up, Girardi debated removing Nova. He decided against it, and Smoak smashed a grand slam to right on a hanging 0-and-1 curveball.

"You've got to be careful in that situation,'' Nova said. "Like I said, it was my mistake.'' It came on the 102nd pitch for Nova, who returned in late June from Tommy John surgery.

Girardi did not second-guess himself: "Nova had pitched his butt off and is a ground-ball guy and I stuck with him.''

Warren said he was prepared if called upon. "I think I was ready right as Smoak was walking to the plate,'' he said. "When they tell you to get ready, you're not really sure for who. I felt pretty confident [Nova] could get a ground ball right there, but he got under it instead of rolling over it.''

The Blue Jays lie in wait again Sunday. "We've got a lot of games left,'' Warren said. "I think you start worrying when you get to the middle of September. Obviously, every game matters. You can't get too high or too low now. I think this team is pretty good doing that. I think the guys are going to stay within that mantra even though it's August. I think we're going to wait until mid- September before we really start panicking or anything like that.

"I think we kind of had an idea of what [the Blue Jays] were going to look like. We know now. They're for real and they're playing good baseball. I don't think they're going to win every game for the rest of the season. We just got to find a way to win [Sunday] and go on our own hit streak, I guess.''

Bautista was somewhat matter-of-fact when asked about the possibility of a three-game sweep. "If we sweep 'em, so be it,'' he said. "It will have its repercussions in the sense that we're here and we shouldn't be overlooked. But that's about it.''