Yankees 5, Blue Jays 3: Jacoby Ellsbury homered and drove in three runs before exiting with a strained right hamstring as host New York seized its third straight victory.

Brian McCann ripped an RBI single and Derek Jeter went 2-for-4 for the second consecutive night for the Yankees, who reside five games behind Kansas City for the second wild-card spot with nine to play. Hiroki Kuroda (11-9) tossed 6 2/3 solid innings as New York continued to torment Mark Buehrle (12-10), who has lost 12 straight to the club and fell to 1-14 in his career.

After Edwin Encarnacion's two-run homer caromed off the left-field foul pole in the first, McCann answered in the bottom of the inning with a single to left to trim Toronto's advantage. Ellsbury gave New York a 3-2 lead in the third after depositing a 1-1 fastball from Buehrle into the seats in right for his 16th homer.

Ellsbury extended the advantage as he used his speed to thwart a potential inning-ending double play in the fourth, but injured himself in the process. Stephen Drew scored and Chase Headley followed after first baseman Adam Lind couldn't control the throw from shortstop Jose Reyes.

Reyes scored on a groundout in the fifth to trim New York's lead to 5-3, but Kuroda exited after allowing just those three runs and seven hits to improve to 7-2 in his last 10 versus Toronto. Adam Warren struck out three in 1 2/3 innings for his third save and sent the Blue Jays to their season-high sixth straight loss.

GAME NOTEBOOK: New York DH Carlos Beltran went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts in his return to the lineup after missing four games following his wife's miscarriage. ... Buehrle permitted five runs on eight hits in six innings to take the loss. ... Toronto LF Dalton Pompey had a single to right-center field in the second for his first career hit. ... Yankees LF Brett Gardner went 0-for-4 to extend his hitless streak to career-high 27 at-bats.