Johnson Ejected, but Yankees Win

Randy Johnson fumed at the home plate umpire when he didn’t like a call, which is not unusual. On Friday night, it nearly cost the New York Yankees an important game.

Johnson had his shortest start in more than a decade, ejected in the second inning by Fieldin Culbreth. 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 American League-leading 43rd home run and the Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 11-10, at Toronto for their fifth straight win.

“I can assure you that nobody finds it exciting to come to the ballpark this time of year and have to eject Randy Johnson,” Culbreth said. Johnson left the clubhouse without talking to reporters.

New York used its bullpen to make up for Johnson’s early exit and remained half a game behind Cleveland in the AL wild-card race and 1 1/2 games behind first-place Boston in the AL East.

Cleveland 3, Kansas City 1 -- Casey Blake and Grady Sizemore hit consecutive fifth-inning homers, and the Indians beat the Royals at Cleveland to maintain their AL wild-card lead.

Scott Elarton (10-7) gave up one run and five hits in 7 2/3 innings and Cleveland won for the 10th time in 11 games.

Chicago 2, Minnesota 1 -- Joe Crede drove in the go-ahead run with an infield single in the 10th inning, and the struggling White Sox won for only the second time in eight games, beating the Twins at Minneapolis.

Former Angel prospect Bobby Jenks (1-0) pitched the final 1 1/3 innings for his first major league win.

Texas 5, Seattle 3 -- Rod Barajas homered at Arlington, Texas, to give the Rangers the American League record for most home runs in a season at home with 146. Texas has 246 overall to tie the club record. The major league record is 264, set by Seattle in 1997.

Tampa Bay 6, Baltimore 1 -- Scott Kazmir pitched six strong innings and Jorge Cantu hit two solo homers to carry the Devil Rays at Baltimore.

*

Detroit Tiger closer Troy Percival found out he won’t need surgery on his right elbow, but his status for next season remained uncertain.