Randy Johnson had his shortest start in more than a decade, ejected in the second inning after complaining to the home plate umpire. The Yankees bounced back to take an eight-run lead against Toronto, then barely held on.
Robinson Cano homered twice and drove in five runs, Alex Rodriguez hit his AL-leading 43rd home run, and the Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays 11-10 Friday night in Toronto for their fifth straight win.
New York remained a half-game behind Cleveland in the AL wild-card race. The Yankees began the night 1 1/2 games behind first-place Boston in the AL East.
With Toronto leading 3-2 with two outs in the second inning, Frank Menechino at the plate and the count 2-2, Johnson threw a pitch on the inside part of the plate that was called a ball. The 6-foot-10 left-hander yelled at umpire Fieldin Culbreth, who popped out to the first-base side of the plate and took off his mask.
Culbreth yelled something at Johnson and pointed at the pitcher. Johnson yelled something back, and the umpire then ejected him.
John Flaherty, New York's catcher, got between Johnson and the umpire, and Yankees manager Joe Torre came out of the dugout to argue.
Johnson flipped the ball onto the infield before walking to the Yankees dugout.
Johnson allowed three runs and two hits, throwing 50 pitches. Scott Proctor relieved and retired Menechino on his first pitch.
It was Johnson's shortest regular-season start since July 23, 1993, for Seattle at Cleveland, when he lasted 1 1/3 innings, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Johnson gave up eight runs in that game.
Cano hit a three-run homer off Dave Bush (5-9) in the third that put New York ahead 5-3 and a two-run shot off Brandon League in the fourth that boosted the lead to 11-3, the first multihomer game of his career. The rookie second baseman tied his career high of five RBIs, set Thursday at Tampa Bay. He had three hits and is batting .469 (23-for-49) in September (20/44 coming in).
Proctor (1-0) won for the first time since Oct. 3 last year, also at Toronto, despite allowing four runs and five hits in 3 2/3 innings. He struck out four and walked one. Mariano Rivera pitched the ninth for his 40th save in 44 chances.
Vernon Wells hit a three-run homer off Johnson. Toronto has lost four of five, falling to 72-74.
Jason Giambi hit an RBI double in the first, but Wells' 26th homer put Toronto ahead.
Flaherty's RBI double cut it to 3-2 in the second, and New York scored four runs in the third on Cano's three-run homer and Flaherty's second homer of the season.
New York added five runs in the fourth on Alex Rodriguez's two-run homer off Pete Walker, Hideki Matsui's RBI grounder off League and Cano's 12th home run.
Toronto's John Ford-Griffin hit an RBI grounder in the fifth, and the Blue Jays cut the lead to 11-7 in the sixth on Reed Johnson's three-run double off Felix Rodriguez.
The Blue Jays closed within a run in the seventh on Aaron Hill's RBI double off Felix Rodriguez, Gabe Gross' run-scoring double off Alan Embree and pinch-hitter Gregg Zaun's RBI single off Embree.
DEVIL RAYS 6, ORIOLES 1: At Baltimore, Scott Kazmir pitched six innings of two-hit ball, and Jorge Cantu hit two solo homers to carry Tampa Bay over Baltimore. Carl Crawford homered and drove in three runs for the Devil Rays, who won at Camden Yards for the first time since July 7, 2004.
INDIANS 3, ROYALS 1: At Cleveland, Casey Blake and Grady Sizemore hit consecutive fifth-inning homers as Cleveland beat Kansas City to maintain their AL wild-card lead. Scott Elarton (10-7) gave up one run and five hits in 7 1/3 innings as Cleveland won for the 10th time in 11 games.
WHITE SOX 2, TWINS 1: At Minneapolis, Joe Crede drove in the go-ahead run with an infield single in the 10th for Chicago, which won for the second time in eight games and maintained its 4 1/2-game lead over Cleveland. Bobby Jenks (1-0) pitched the final 1 1/3 innings for his first major league win.
RANGERS 5, MARINERS 3: At Arlington, Texas, Rod Barajas homered to give Texas the American League record for most home runs in a season at home, and Josh Rupe allowed two runs over five innings to win in his major league debut.
RED SOX 3, ATHLETICS 2: At Boston, Manny Ramirez was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the 10th inning, giving Boston a win over Oakland. Ortiz tied the score in the sixth inning with his 43rd homer as Boston maintained a 1 1/2-game lead in the AL East.