Toronto Blue Jays closer Jeremy Accardo left Yankee Stadium on Thursday, but not before gaining a measure of revenge and helping his team avoid a four-game sweep.

Accardo, who balked in the tying run in Tuesday's 3-2 extra-inning loss to the New York Yankees, got the final three outs in the last game of the series to cement a victory — by the same score.

Troy Glaus, left, high-fives Blue Jays teammate Jeremy Accardo, who recorded his 14th save of the season on Thursday.
(Kevin Martin/Associated Press)

After Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez reached on a single to open the ninth inning, Accardo retired Hideki Matsui, Melky Cabrera and Robinson Cano for his 14th save this MLB season.

Cano drove in the winning run on Tuesday for the Yankees, who had their winning streak halted at five games. They haven't posted a four-game sweep of the Blue Jays at home since Sept. 18 to 21, 1995.

"It's huge. It's huge for us to get out of here, especially with that kind of win," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said.

Toronto starter Dustin McGowan, who spotted New York a 2-0 first-inning lead, blanked his opponent over the next six frames en route to his sixth win of the season.

The right-hander retired seven straight batters after Bobby Abreu doubled home two runs, and improved his record to 5-0 in days games this season.

"After the first inning, I just quit overthrowing and started pitching," McGowan said. "The first inning, I was a little excited, which is very easy to do at Yankee Stadium."

McGowan (6-5) lasted long enough for the Jays' offence to get in gear in the seventh inning.

Left-fielder Matt Stairs kicked things off with a double off New York starter Chien-Ming Wang (10-5) and watched Vernon Wells follow with an infield hit.

Wang then retired Troy Glaus and Frank Thomas, who plated a run on a groundout, before Aaron Hill and Gregg Zaun gave Toronto a 3-2 lead with a triple and single, respectively.

"They hit some balls hard," Wang said. "I didn't change speeds."

For Hill, it was the second baseman's sixth hit in nine career at-bats versus the Yankees righty.

"The difference was we got the big hit. We picked each other up, even though one of the hits wasn't much," said Toronto first baseman Lyle Overbay, who was scratched from the starting lineup with dizzy spells but pinch hit in the eighth and grounded into a double play.

The Blue Jays were 3-for-31 with runners in scoring position during the series until their late rally.

They left just two runners on base on the day, after stranding 37 runners in the first three games of the series.

Casey Janssen relieved McGowan and pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning, striking out all-star shortstop Derek Jeter.

Wang, who scattered seven hits in 7 1/3 innings of work, lost for the first time in 10 starts and saw his record slip to 3-1 in five career outings against Toronto.

Matsui lined a single to left field in the sixth inning to extend his season-high hitting streak to 14 games.

Toronto returns home for six games, starting Friday against the Seattle Mariners, with Jesse Litsch facing former Blue Jay Miguel Batista at 7:07 p.m. ET.

With files from the Associated Press