Major League Baseball : Blue Jays Hand Yankees First Loss

Add another chapter to the wild rivalry between the New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays.

The Blue Jays scored a 17-9 victory Monday afternoon at Toronto to hand the Yankees their first loss of the year in six starts. The game, which lasted four hours, 15 minutes, came within one minute of the American League record for a nine-inning contest.

The two intense AL East rivals treated the opening-day crowd of 45,185 fans to a smorgasbord of baseball, combining for 32 hits, 10 doubles, seven stolen bases, two home runs, two walks and two wild pitches.

“You don’t forget when you lose that way,” Yankees manager Billy Martin said.

Kelly Gruber, who hit two home runs and drove in five runs, and designated hitter Rick Leach led a 20-hit Toronto attack with four hits apiece.

Leach and Ernie Whitt drove in two runs apiece in a six-run Toronto rally in the first inning as the Blue Jays overcame a 3-0 deficit.

“It wasn’t that big a deal, golly,” said Gruber, who replaced the injured Rance Mulliniks in the first inning. “It was fortunate the way things went but I was happy to get the opportunity and make the best of it.”

Mulliniks injured a knee while moving to cover third base on a play in the first inning.

Gruber hit a solo homer in the seventh and a three-run shot in the eighth for the Jays’ final runs.

George Bell and Lloyd Moseby each had three hits for Toronto.

David Wells, 1-0, got the victory with three-hit relief pitching.

The loss spoiled a five-hit, four-stolen base performance by Yankee leadoff hitter Rickey Henderson.

In the first, Whitt hit a bases-loaded single, Gruber had a run-scoring double that Yankees right fielder Dave Winfield lost in the sun, and Jesse Barfield drove in the fourth run with a grounder. After a walk to Fred McGriff, Leach hit a two-out double.

Henderson singled, stole second and scored on Bobby Meacham’s double in the Yankees’ three-run first. Don Mattingly drove in a run on a single, and the third run scored when Barfield dropped Winfield’s fly at the wall for a double.

Toronto made it 9-3 in the third on a sacrifice fly by Nelson Liriano, a run-scoring single by Lloyd Moseby and a wild pitch by Tommy John.

Starter Rick Rhoden, 1-1, allowed eight hits and nine runs, five earned, in 2 innings.

Toronto starter Mike Flanagan was called for two balks in a two-run Yankees fourth. Don Slaught, who doubled for his seventh consecutive hit, moved to third on a grounder and scored on a balk. Henderson then singled, stole second, was balked to third and scored on Mattingly’s sacrifice fly.

New York closed to 9-7 with single runs in the fifth and sixth. Slaught hit a sacrifice fly in the fifth, and in the sixth, Henderson doubled, stole third successfully for the 16th consecutive time, and scored on Mattingly’s grounder.

In the Toronto sixth, Leach doubled and scored on a single by Liriano. Moseby and Fernandez were hit in the leg on pitches by Tim Stoddard and Cecilio Guante to load the bases and Bell drove in two runs with a single.

Henderson hit a run-scoring double and scored on a passed ball by Whitt to put the Yankees at 13-9 in the eighth, but the Blue Jays came back with four runs.