Toronto's Scott Rolen slides into second base as the Yankees' Robinson Cano tries to apply the tag during Wednesday's game. (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)

Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Scott Richmond may have won American League rookie-of-the-month honours in April, but he probably wants to forget the first half of May.

The Vancouver native struggled in his second start of the month as he was tagged for five runs in the second inning on the way to an 8-2 loss to the New York Yankees on Wednesday at the Rogers Centre.

Richmond (4-2) lasted only 1 2/3 innings — his shortest outing of the season — and gave up five runs on seven hits while walking two.

"I have positive starts behind me but I can't live on what I did earlier," said Richmond. "I have to build on each one now and grow as a pitcher. My location was too much off the plate. I like to work ahead, I like to pound the strike zone, and instead of pounding on the thirds and quarters, I was pounding thirds and middles.

"It's just one of those days."

Starter Andy Pettitte (3-1) looked shaky early but settled in for the Yanks, giving up two runs, one earned, on five hits in six innings of work.

"Give Pettitte a little credit," said Toronto manager Cito Gaston. "You've got to battle and stay close to him."

It was also the second inning that did Richmond in versus Oakland in his last start on May 8. He gave up five runs there too, as he suffered his first loss of the season.

Centre-fielder Brett Gardner had a standout night at the plate for New York. The 25-year old went 2-for-3 with a triple, a home run, and three runs batted in. Mark Teixeira chipped in with a 2-for-4 outing and two RBIs.

Toronto third-baseman Scott Rolen went 2-for-4 in a losing effort.

Hill hurt in 3rd

Aaron Hill, Toronto's best hitter this season, came out of the game after fouling a pitch off his left shin in the third inning.

"It's fine," said Hill, and added that he wanted to stay in the game. "I just told them I don't want to be sitting out [Thursday]." John McDonald subbed into the contest, replacing Hill at second base.

Toronto came up empty with runners in scoring position, going 2-for-15. The Jays twice loaded the bases but failed to score a run.

Five relievers came out of the Toronto bullpen after Richmond was pulled. Brian Wolfe gave up a run, Bill Murphy surrendered two runs on three hits, while Brandon League, Jason Frasor and Shawn Camp pitched shutout ball.

New York's Alfredo Aceves and Jonathan Albaladejo gave up no runs on two hits in three innings while relieving Pettitte.

The Blue Jays had their three-game winning streak snapped, while the Yankees won for only the third time in eight games.

Around 20,000 fans showed up at the ballpark for the second game of the series. The total was less than half of the turnout for the Jays-Yanks opener on Monday.

Toronto (23-13) is one game up on Boston (21-13) for the AL East division lead. New York is 5 1/2 games back, in third place.

The rubber match for the three-game series goes Thursday, with Yankees lefty CC Sabathia set to duel the Jays' Brian Tallet.

"You're going to have a bad one out there once in a while," said Gaston. "We'll turn the page and come out [Thursday] and deal with Mr. Sabathia."

Early lead disappears

Toronto went up 1-0 in the bottom of the first thanks to a throwing error by shortstop Robinson Cano, which allowed Hill to score from third.

But the lead was short-lived as the Yanks broke it open in the top of the second.

New York left-fielder Melky Cabrera got the inning started with a double and Gardner hit a ball that just snuck over the right-field wall for a two-run homer, his first of the year.

Ramiro Pena then hit a hard shot to the gap for a triple, and Johnny Damon drove him in with a triple of his own to make it 3-1 New York before an out was recorded in the inning.

It got worse for Richmond, as Teixeira doubled home Damon to make it 4-1. Cano made up for his error in the first by driving in Teixeira to make it five runs on Richmond for the inning.

Richmond pulled

That was enough for manager Gaston, who pulled Richmond in favour of Brian Wolfe after the fifth Yankee run.

In total, Richmond surrendered a walk, a single, two doubles, two triples, a home run and five runs in the inning.

"Plain and simple, [my] fastball control needs to be better," said Richmond. "Obviously, you want to get the fastball across better and you can work off your other pitches from there, but if your fastball isn't getting across down in the zone, it's going to be a rough outing."

New York made it 6-1 in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Teixeira that drove in Damon from third.

Toronto threatened to close the gap in the bottom half of the inning as Rod Barajas singled to centre-field, driving in Scott Rolen to make it 6-2. The Jays then loaded the bases with two gone, but Marco Scutaro popped out to end the threat.

The Yankees made it 8-2 in the fifth, when Gardner tripled in for his third RBI of the game, and scored on a Francisco Cervelli single.

Toronto loaded the bases again with one out in the bottom of the ninth, but Alex Rios grounded into a game-ending double-play to seal the loss.

With files from The Canadian Press