New York Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte thinks it over as Vernon Wells rounds the bases on a solo home run for the Toronto Blue Jays in the second inning Saturday. (Darren Calabrese/Canadian Press)

Through all of Aaron Hill's struggles this season, the home crowd has never abandoned the hard-working and popular infielder.

The former all-star second baseman paid his supporters back on Saturday afternoon with a game-winning single up the middle that scored Edwin Encarnacion and gave the Toronto Blue Jays a 3-2, 14-inning victory over the New York Yankees.

Encarnacion had walked on four pitches to start the 14th and was sacrificed to second by Fred Lewis, who was 0-for-6 on the day. That sac bunt was only the third of 2010 by the Jays, as manager Cito Gaston normally abhors the play.

"Once in a while you have to do that," said Gaston. "It's really, really tough giving up outs. … It turned out pretty good."

Hill had come to the plate 0-for-4 with a pair of walks to face journeyman right-hander Chad Gaudin (0-3). With two strikes, he was able to stroke a slider through the infield and bring the big run home.

That hit raised Hill's average to a paltry .190 as his difficulties at the plate continue.

In a season of 162 games, most games blend into one another. This one sticks out.

"Oh yeah," said Blue Jays starter Ricky Romero. "That's the thing we've shown all year, we're tough. We're not going to let anyone come in here and punk us around, we're going to go out there and fight.

"We have that type of attitude as a team … and we're all in this together to make that happen."

The game was decided long after Romero, the emerging ace, duelled fellow lefty Andy Pettitte for eight entertaining innings, both leaving the four-hour, nine-minute affair with it tied 2-2.

Casey Janssen (4-0) pitched two innings to pick up the victory, which improved Toronto's record to 33-24, in front of 37,164 at the Rogers Centre — the season's second-largest turnout after opening day.

New York dropped to 34-22 by losing the second straight of this three-game series. The Yankees are a game and a half up on the Jays for the American League wild card spot, still in the season's early going.

This was an outstanding game all around, with no errors and 10 pitchers who all threw well. The 11th was the unlucky Gaudin.

Wells goes deep

After the Yanks left the bases loaded in the top of the second, Vernon Wells put Toronto on the board the old-fashioned way, hammering an Andy Pettitte fastball the opposite way over the right-field wall for a 1-0 lead to extend his hitting streak to 13 games.

No surprise, really, given Wells came into that at-bat hitting .348 lifetime against the New York lefty. It was the resurgent slugger's 14th of the year and first to the opposite field since Sept. 4, 2006, when he took CC Sabathia deep to right.

"I broke the streak, it sucks," Wells said with a grin. "It was a complete accident that it went that way."

Pettitte seemed unconcerned, dealing a nice hand through six innings that saw him put a runner on each time only to extract himself.

Up to the seventh, that is, when Alex Gonzalez put a looper into the Jays' bullpen in left that tied the score 2-2. It was the shortstop's 12th homer of the season and number 96 on the year for the team as Toronto continues to lead the majors.

Pettitte left with two out in the eighth, having given up two runs on five hits, a season-high 10 strikeouts, and two homers allowed. He was followed by Joba Chamberlin, Damaso Marte, David Robertson, Chan Ho Park and Gaudin.

Romero bumpy early

Romero pitched out of a bases-loaded situation in the second inning and fought through the first three before seemingly settling in with a quick fourth.

But Brett Gardner led off the fifth with a double to right, and one out later Derek Jeter stepped into a change-up and launched it over the wall in right-centre for his sixth homer of the season and a 2-1 lead for the Bronx Bombers.

New York had Romero over a barrel in the seventh with two on, one out and Jeter again at the plate. He hit a line shot to Hill at second who made the grab, bobbled the ball on the transfer and then threw to third to double up Francisco Cervelli, ending the threat.

After a quick eighth, Romero left the game having given up two earned runs on five hits, four walks and seven strikeouts. His effort was followed by strong outings from Scott Downs, Kevin Gregg, Shawn Camp and Janssen.

The bullpen struggled in a pair of gnawing losses to the Tampa Bay Rays earlier this week.

"They've had two bad games that everyone is talking about, but they've had a great year all year," said Hill. "Today was one of the bigger wins of the year."

Time of the game was four hours, seven minutes.

Javier Vazquez (4-5) meets Toronto's Brandon Morrow (4-4) in the series finale Sunday afternoon before the Jays leave on a nine-game road trip.

With files from The Canadian Press