Francisco Cervelli of the Yankees whoops it up Wednesday. (Kathy Willens/Associated Press)

No sooner had the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees put Tuesday's brouhaha behind them than seldom-used rookie Francisco Cervelli delivered one final blow.

Cervelli singled in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning as the New York Yankees rallied from a two-run deficit and trimmed the Blue Jays 5-4 at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday night.

"If they stay close to you, they always have a chance to beat you, especially in this ballpark," Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston said.

After Hideki Matsui's two-run home run tied it 4-4 in the eighth, speedster Brett Gardner lined a pinch-hit single up the middle off reliever Jason Frasor to open the ninth.

Gardner easily stole second base on Frasor, took third on Derek Jeter's groundout and trotted home on Cervelli's run-scoring single to left field.

"Pitchers really do a better job nowadays of holding runners on," Gardner said. "There is not many times I get on first base and a guy is really, really slow and say, 'Oh, I got this really, really easy.'"

Cervelli, New York's third-string catcher, was pressed into service because perennial all-star Jorge Posada was suspended for his role in Tuesday's brawl and backup catcher Jose Molina had been lifted for a pinch-hitter.

Mariano Rivera (3-2) was credited with the win, while Frasor (6-3) suffered the loss.

"This is as good as it gets when you're finishing off a homestand and going on a tough road trip," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "It's nice to win a game and feel like you can put what happened behind us."

No beanballs or punches were thrown Wednesday, but not everybody emerged unscathed.

Toronto starter Brian Tallet sustained a deep bone bruise when struck on the foot by a comebacker to the mound from Robinson Cano in the bottom of the second inning.

"I'm going to do everything I can to pitch in six days," Tallet said.

Tallet was relieved in the third by Shawn Camp, who was booed by the crowd of 46,046 for plunking Melky Cabrera on the calf with a misguided breaking ball in the fourth.

Twenty-four hours earlier, Blue Jays reliever Jesse Carlson and Posada ignited a bench-clearing melee in the eighth inning of Toronto's 10-4 win.

'A black eye for baseball'

Both combatants and Yankees utilityman Shelley Duncan received three-game suspensions and fines for "aggressive and inappropriate actions."

Carlson was fined $3,000 US and Posada $2,000 US, while Blue Jays catcher Rod Barajas was docked $1,000 US "for verbal abuse."

Yankees pitcher Edwar Ramirez and hitting coach Kevin Long also were fined.

"That is part of baseball," Girardi said. "But that is a part of baseball that I don't like.

"No pun intended but it is a black eye for baseball to me — whenever there is a fight or an incident like that — because you know someone can really get hurt and you can jeopardize someone's career."

Carlson had a large welt on the left side of his forehead, and Girardi suffered cuts to his left eye and ear.

"I got elbowed accidentally by one of my own players that I won't disclose — because it was an accident — trying to pull someone off," Girardi said. "I don't want [reported culprit] John McDonald to have a bad name."

New York took a 2-0 lead on Tallet in the bottom of the first inning as Jeter walked and circled the bases on a run-scoring double by Mark Texeira, who later scampered home on Matsui's RBI single.

Toronto tied it in the top of the third off Yankees starter Chad Gaudin on Jose Bautista's leadoff home run to straightaway centre and Lind's RBI groundout.

It remained 2-2 until Vernon Wells opened the sixth with a single, raced to third on Lyle Overbay's double and scored on Barajas's RBI groundout.

The Blue Jays went ahead 4-2 in the seventh when Marco Scutaro greeted reliever Brian Bruney with a leadoff double, scampered to third on Aaron Hill's single and scored on Lind's sacrifice fly to left.

But Matsui tied it in the eighth with one swing of the bat, launching a two-run home run to right off reliever Scott Downs.

Matsui has homered six times in 48 at-bats versus the Blue Jays this season.

"I don't know how many curveball homers Matsui is going to hit off us before we change how we pitch to him," Gaston muttered.

With files from The Canadian Press