Yankees back Pettitte with 11-run third inning

Ricky Romero stared in disbelief at the rightfield seats at Yankee Stadium, the final resting place of Brett Gardner's first career grand slam.

Truth be told, he had lost control of this game long before Gardner stepped to the plate for the second time in what would become an 11-run third inning.

The Yankees' highest-scoring inning since June 21, 2005 - when they scored 13 runs against Tampa Bay in the eighth - was more than enough for them to beat the Blue Jays, 11-3, Saturday in front of 46,364.

The Yankees had seven hits, four walks and a hit batsman in the 37-minute half-inning, in which Romero and reliever Brian Tallet threw 58 pitches. Seven of the runs scored after two were out.

Staked to an 11-2 lead, Andy Pettitte improved to 10-2. Petttitte, Phil Hughes (10-2) and CC Sabathia (10-3) are only the fourth trio of Yankees pitchers in the past 50 years to have at least 10 victories each by the All-Star break.

"I expected it from CC for sure, Phil's done an unbelievable job and I expect to win," said Pettitte, who recorded his 10th win last season on Aug. 21 and is 7-0 with a 1.67 ERA in day games in 2010. "I know wins are hard to get and they're hard to get in this division, but coming into this year, I felt like I could give us a solid year."

Yankees manager Joe Girardi had sung Romero's praises before the game, deeming his changeup one of the best in the game. Romero had held the Yankees to two runs in eight innings June 5 but was much less impressive this time.

Down 2-0 after Jose Bautista's 21st homer, a two-run shot in the first inning, the Yankees loaded the bases with none out in the third on singles by Gardner and Nick Swisher sandwiched around a walk to Derek Jeter. Mark Teixeira ripped Romero's first pitch to him over third base for a two-run double, tying the score.

Romero couldn't get his glove down on a comebacker by Alex Rodriguez, which turned into an RBI groundout to short, and Robinson Cano singled to make it 4-2.

After Jorge Posada flied out for the second out, the Yankees re-loaded the bases when Curtis Granderson reached on an infield single and Romero hit Chad Huffman in the left arm with a pitch. Then Gardner fell behind the lefthanded Romero 1-and-2 before lining an inside 3-and-2 fastball over the rightfield wall for his fourth homer of the year, putting the Yankees up 8-2.

"It was a pretty big moment," he said. "We've been struggling lately, and to give us a little cushion like that with a full count with two outs, it felt good."

Things went from bad to worse for the Blue Jays once Romero - who allowed eight earned runs and seven hits in 22/3 innings and fell to 6-5 - was replaced by Tallet. He walked Jeter, Swisher and Teixeira before Rodriguez hit a high fly to leftfield that John McDonald lost in the sun. It dropped next to him for what was scored a three-run double.

"When we get four [runs], you're thinking, 'Wow, it's a big inning.' Especially against a guy like Ricky," said Pettitte, who ran, stretched and threw in the cage area to keep loose. "To be able to score that many runs in the inning was amazing to watch."

The 11 runs allowed in the inning tied a franchise-worst for the Blue Jays, who allowed 11 runs on Aug. 6, 1979.

Pettitte didn't seem too affected by his time on the bench, retiring the next six batters to extend his string to 14. Then Alex Gonzalez hit his 15th home run on Pettitte's second pitch of the sixth.

Entering the third, the Yankees were 0-for-their-last-25 with runners in scoring position and hadn't scored in their last 12 innings. "It's frustrating when you go through a streak like that, for all of us,'' Girardi said. "But it happens."