TORONTO, April 11 (UPI) -- The Toronto Blue Jays reached Roger Clemems for six runs over five innings Thursday and gained a split of the four-game series with the New York Yankees, 11-3.
Scott Eyre (1-1), replacing the injured Chris Carpenter in the Blue Jays' rotation, earned the victory, allowing three runs and six hits over seven innings with a walk and seven strikeouts. He gave up a solo homer to Robin Ventura in the second and a two-run shot to Rondell White in the seventh.
Ventura leads the Yankees with four homers and 12 RBI.
But Clemens (1-2) struggled from the outset and has been ineffective in two of his three starts this season and has a 7.56 ERA. He pitched brilliantly against Tampa Bay on Sunday, but surrendered eight runs in an Opening Day loss to Baltimore when he was struck on the right hand by a comebacker.
While Clemens was not sharp, Randy Choate also struggled in relief, giving up a two-run single to Darrin Fletcher in the sixth and a three-run homer to Vernon Wells in the eighth. Choate pitched the final three innings for the Yankees.
After the Blue Jays grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first on Eric Hinske's double and Raul Mondesi's RBI single, the Yankees tied it on Ventura's homer.
But the Blue Jays broke it open with four runs in the third and tacked on another in the fifth to take a 6-1 lead.
Clemens dropped to 20-11 all-time against his former team. The six-time Cy Young Award winner was 4-0 in five starts against the Blue Jays last season.
Mondesi collected three hits for the Blue Jays, who scored 20 runs in winning the last two games of the series. Wells had two hits and drove in four runs.
