TORONTO -- Carlos Beltran and Mark Teixeira hit solo home runs, but the big difference for the New York Yankees on Saturday was Masahiro Tanaka.

The right-hander pitched his first complete game of the season, and the fourth of his career, in a 4-1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.

"Just an unbelievable job by Masahiro," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "We had him on a short leash (in the ninth), but we sent him back out there."

Tanaka (9-5) allowed five hits, three walks and one run while striking out eight.

"He was great," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "He was on. He was hitting his spots, both sides. Nice little split, was dotting his fastball."

Said Beltran: "Every time he takes the mound, we feel confident that he's going to do that all the time."

Beltran's first-inning home run was his second of the series. He won the game for the Yankees on Friday with a three-run, pinch homer in the eighth and as a result the Yankees will try to complete a sweep of the three-game series on Sunday.

The Blue Jays swept three games from the Yankees in New York last weekend.

"I feel good at the plate," Beltran said. "I'm seeing the ball good, I feel calm. I'm laying off bad pitches and swinging at good pitches."

The Yankees (64-51) have won three games in a row to move 1 1/2 games ahead of the second-place Blue Jays (64-54) in the American League East.

Blue Jays right-hander Marco Estrada (10-7) gave up only three hits in six innings, but two were home runs that accounted for both runs against him. He also allowed two walks and struck out three.

"I guess the line looks pretty good but I missed a lot of spots today," Estrada said. "I wasn’t my usual self. I got away with a lot. For the most part I thought I was all over the place.

"I gave the team the chance, but you've got to tip your hat to Tanaka. He pitched a heck of a game today."

Beltran, the Yankees right fielder, hit his 12th home run of the season on a 3-and-2 fastball with two out in the first.

"He's a great hitter; he's been doing it a long time," Blue Jays catcher Dioner Navarro said. "He has a game plan and goes in and executes it."

The Blue Jays tied the game in the fifth on a sacrifice to left by third baseman Josh Donaldson.

"(Tanaka) threw a decent slider there and Donaldson just missed hitting it a long way," Yankees catcher John Ryan Murphy said. "He deserved to get this one."

It came with the bases loaded with none out, after second baseman Ryan Goins walked to lead off the inning, left fielder Ben Revere singled and shortstop Troy Tulowitzki walked.

However, the Blue Jays could do no more damage.

Right fielder Jose Bautista struck out and designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion, who doubled in the fourth to extend his hitting streak to 13 games, popped out to second.

"I was hanging in there, battling," Tanaka said. "My thought was just keep them to the minimum."

Said Gibbons" "That was our big shot, no doubt about it."

The Yankees regained the lead on the 31st home run of the season by Teixeira, the Yankees designated hitter, with two out in the sixth inning. He lofted a 1-and-0 changeup to right.

"(Tanaka) pitched really well," Teixeira said. "His ball was moving so much. Being the DH today, I got to watch a lot of the game on TV in the clubhouse, which just shows how much it's actually moving.

"Once I hit that home run, I had a feeling he was going to keep it up."

New York added a run against right-hander LaTroy Hawkins in the eighth on a double by Beltran and a run-scoring single by Teixeira.

Blue Jays left-hander Aaron Loup allowed another run in the ninth on a double by Murphy and a single by center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury.

NOTES: Before the game, the Yankees called up RHP Caleb Cotham from Triple-A and designated LHP Chris Capuano for assignment. ... The Yankees had 11 hits against Toronto LHP David Price on Friday and have had at least 10 hits in three of their last four meetings against him dating to Aug. 27, 2014. They are batting .396 (36-for-91) against him in that span. ... The Blue Jays have altered their rotation so that LHP Mark Buehrle will pitch Wednesday against the Phillies in Philadelphia, and Price will pitch against the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim on Friday. ... RHP Aaron Sanchez gave up a three-run pinch homer to OF Carlos Beltran in the eighth inning Friday in the Yankees' 4-3 win to snap a streak of 25 scoreless innings by the Blue Jays' bullpen dating to Aug. 2. ... RHP Luis Severino (0-1, 2.45 ERA) will start the finale of the three-game series for the Yankees on Sunday against Toronto RHP Drew Hutchison (11-2, 5.26 ERA).