NEW YORK – Ichiro Suzuki had a go-ahead single in the eighth inning, his seventh hit of the day, to help the New York Yankees complete a doubleheader sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays with a 2-1 win Wednesday night that ensured they remained atop the AL East.

Suzuki made a difficult catch with the bases loaded in the eighth inning of the opener to preserve a lead for Andy Pettitte in a 4-2 victory.

Suzuki had three hits in the opener batting leadoff in place of Derek Jeter, who rested his sore ankle in the first game of the day-night doubleheader. Jeter started at shortstop for the first time in a week and got his 200th hit on Ricky Romero’s first pitch.

The single to center tied Jeter with Lou Gehrig for most 200-hit seasons for New York with eight.

Rafael Soriano closed both games, notching his 41st and 42nd saves, the first time he saved two in one day.

With the score 1-1, Curtis Granderson was walked by Steve Delabar (4-3) to open the eighth. He moved up on Jayson Nix’s sacrifice and stole third. With two outs, Suzuki slapped an opposite field hit to left for the lead. Suzuki stole two bases in the inning to give him four.

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The Yankees had seven steals in the nightcap, their most in a game in three years.

Toronto dropped to 66-81, guaranteeing it will not have a winning record this season.

ROYALS 3, WHITE SOX 0: Bruce Chen pitched into the seventh inning, Alex Gordon hit a two-run double and Kansas City ended visiting Chicago’s five-game winning streak.

TWINS 6, INDIANS 4: Josh Willingham had four hits and four RBI, Liam Hendriks finally got his first career win and Minnesota won at Cleveland.

TIGERS 6, ATHLETICS 2: Miguel Cabrera homered, Omar Infante drove in three runs and Justin Verlander pitched six scoreless innings to help Detroit win at home.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

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BREWERS 3, PIRATES 1: Marco Estrada pitched seven scoreless innings and rookie shortstop Jean Segura hit a double and triple as Milwaukee won at Pittsburgh.

BRAVES 3, MARLINS 0: Kris Medlen pitched eight innings of four-hit ball and visiting Atlanta won his start for the 21st straight time.

CARDINALS 5, ASTROS 0: David Freese and Yadier Molina both connected for their 20th home run of the season, and Lance Lynn threw 61/3 shutout innings to lead host St. Louis.

DODGERS, NATIONALS SPLIT: Matt Kemp scored a phantom run early, then hit a go-ahead homer in the ninth inning — right after Washington rallied with a six-run eighth — and Los Angeles grabbed a 7-6 victory for a doubleheader split that prevented the Nationals from sewing up a playoff berth.

Kemp was credited with crossing home to give Los Angeles a 6-0 lead in the fourth, even though TV replays showed the inning’s last out already had been recorded on third baseman Ryan Zimmerman’s head-over-heels, reaching tag of runner Adrian Gonzalez.

The Nationals won the first game, 3-1.

PHILLIES 3, METS 2: Ryan Howard hit a go-ahead homer with two outs in the ninth inning as Philadelphia rallied at New York.

David Wright hit a solo home run for the Mets.


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