In the top of the 10th inning, Vernon Wells couldn't handle Tony Clark's fly ball to the gap in left-centre field, allowing Jorge Posada to score what would be the winning run in a 6-5 New York victory in front of 30,041 fans in Toronto.
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The Blue Jays had chipped away at a four-run deficit and tied the game on a Chris Gomez's two-run double off Rivera (2-1).
Jorge Posada, right, is congratulated by teammates after his first inning grand slam Monday night. (CP Photo/Aaron Harris)
"We battled our asses off," said Jays manager Carlos Tosca. "We'd like to see a broken bat once in a while go your way, especially when you're playing at home."
Carlos Delgado homered for the second straight game for Toronto, who fell to 43-56 on the season. Delgado, Gregg Zaun, who also had a home run, and Alex Rios each had a pair of hits.
Delgado's home run came after a second-inning altercation with a Yankee fan.
Yankees second baseman Miguel Cairo led off the second with a foul fly ball down the first-base line, which Delgado followed toward the stands.
Delgado and the fan reached up for the ball at the same time and the fan came down with it. Delgado then angrily slapped the ball out of the fan's glove with his own glove, knocking the ball loose. The fan was kicked out of the game.
With the win, New York is now 7 1/2 games up on Boston in the American League East.
"We had two chances to win this game," said Yankees manager Joe Torre. "We finally took it on the second one."
With Pat Hentgen retiring on the weekend, Sean Douglass made his first big-league start of the season for Toronto after spending much of the season in Triple-A Syracuse.
Douglass needed 39 pitches to get out of a rocky first, but then pitched four scoreless innings.
Any thoughts that New York (62-36) would be suffering an emotional hangover from a heated series loss to the Red Sox or from reports that all-star slugger Jason Giambi's illness may be serious, were quickly dispelled in the top of the first inning.
Derek Jeter and Gary Sheffield singled, followed by an Alex Rodriguez walk, setting the table for Posada's seventh career grand slam home run, a double-deck shot to right field.
"Obviously it was a terrible pitch to Posada," said Douglass. "It was a slider that spun back over the heart of the plate."
Toronto chipped away at the lead, getting runs off New York starter Javier Vazquez in the fourth and fifth. Delgado's 13th long ball was followed an inning later by a Gomez sacrifice fly to score Rios.
Douglass left after striking out eight in five innings. He gave up four runs on five hits and four walks.
"If you give up a big inning, you got to come back and throw shutout innings after that," said Douglass. "That's the one positive I can take away from this."
Kevin Frederick and Justin Speier followed Douglass, combining for three innings of scoreless relief.
In the seventh, Zaun hit his third home run of the season, a shot to right field off Vazquez. But a further threat was extinguished when Yankee reliever Tom Gordon struck out Orlando Hudson with runners on second and third.
"We got (seven) scoreless innings after the first and anytime you do that when the game's close you chip away," said Zaun. "You get one here, one there and you feel like you have a shot at it."
New York restored the two-run lead in the top of the ninth when Sheffield's two-out single off Vinnie Chulk plated Cairo.
But Toronto rallied in the ninth. Zaun doubled and Delgado singled off Rivera, and after Eric Hinske and Rios were sent down, Gomez tied the game.
It was Rivera's second straight blown save. He struck out pinch-hitter Frank Menechino to end the threat and send the game to extra innings.
"To get the runs off Rivera, I thought Menechino was going to win the game in the ninth," said Tosca. "Unfortunately it wasn't so."
Jason Frasor (3-3) came into the game for the Jays, and immediately gave up a walk to Posada and Hideki Matsui single, leading to Clark's shot that went off Wells' glove.
"As I was rounding first, I got very uncomfortable when I saw Vernon covering all kinds of ground out there," said Clark. "I'm just glad it fell in."
"It's definitely a play I expect myself to make," said Wells.
Rivera pitched the bottom of the tenth to earn a rare win for him.
New York has won all three head-to-head meetings this season. The two clubs will meet 15 more times, starting with Tuesday night at SkyDome.
with files from CP Online
