TORONTO, Aug. 7 (UPI) -- Roger Clemens carried a shutout into the seventh before being ejected and Bobby Abreu had four RBI Tuesday as the New York Yankees beat Toronto 9-2.
Clemens hit Toronto's Alex Rios in the seventh after both benches cleared twice in the third inning when New York's Alex Rodriguez was hit by a pitch. Clemens (4-5) struck out six for the Yankees, who won their fifth straight game.
Jorge Posada and Derek Jeter both had two RBI in the victory.
Josh Towers (5-9) took the loss after allowing five runs on nine hits in five-plus innings for the Blue Jays.
Frank Thomas drove in both Toronto runs.
The Yankees are now 5 1/2 games behind the first-place Boston Red Sox in the division. New York has steadily cut its deficit over the past two months after Boston jumped out to a 12 1/2 game lead in the AL East race.
