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NEW YORK - After he was knocked out in the third inning at Fenway Park in early June, A.J. Burnett vowed to improve.

Enlarge Photo

AP

New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter tags out Toronto Blue Jays' Alex Rios during the fourth inning of their American League East Division battle Friday in New York.

Has he ever.

Burnett scattered six hits over seven innings to win for the third time in four starts as the Yankees opened their weekend series with a 4-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday.

"When you're clicking, everything just flows," Burnett said. "When you're clicking on pitches, you don't even think about anything. You know, it's just all confidence out there."

Robinson Cano homered leading off the second and Alex Rodriguez starting the eighth. The Yankees, who wore jarring red caps as part of Major League Baseball's Fourth of July weekend celebration, rebounded from Thursday night's 8-4 loss to Seattle for their eighth win in nine games following a 1-5 slide.

"It was good to have a day game and get back at it really quickly," said Rodriguez, whose 567th homer - his fifth in eight games - left him two shy of Rafael Palmeiro for 10th place.

It was the start of an unusual stretch of four straight day games between New York and Toronto, a series that includes Saturday's observance of the 70th anniversary of Lou Gehrig's famous speech.

Burnett had lost 5-1 to his former team and Roy Halladay at Toronto on May 12.

"Completely different," he said. "Not even close. I didn't even pay attention to who got in the box today. The first time was kind of weird."

Burnett (7-4) allowed both runs, struck out seven and walked two. He got his first three strikeouts on 96 mph fastballs, then rung up his final four with curveballs in the low 80s.

Since the loss at Boston, he's allowed three earned runs in 27 1-3 innings (0.99 earned-run average).

"It's not so much speed, it's the location," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.

Phil Coke and Phil Hughes split the eighth, with Hughes retiring Vernon Wells on an inning-ending grounder with a runner on second. For now, Hughes has supplanted struggling Brian Bruney as Mariano Rivera's primary setup man.

"I'm just going to continue to go out there and throw when I'm called upon. I don't really care, man. Everybody's caught up in what inning," Bruney said. "It doesn't matter."

Bruney has allowed three runs in 4 2-3 innings since returning from the disabled list.

"We need to get him going, and we need to get him right," Girardi said. "We're going to pick some innings, and they'll still be important innings."

Since he's been shifted from the rotation to the bullpen in early June, Hughes has gained three to four mph on his fastball to 95-96.

"I can let it go," he said.

Cubs 2 Brewers 1

In Chicago, Jake Fox drew a bases-loaded walk off Mike DiFelice to force in the winning run with two outs in the 10th inning Friday, and Chicago beat Milwaukee.

Ryan Theriot singled off second baseman Craig Counsell's glove with one out in the 10th and went to second on a wild pitch from DiFelice (4-1). After Theriot moved up on a fly ball, the Brewers intentionally walked Milton Bradley. With a 3-0 count on pinch-hitter Geovany Soto, DeFelice also walked him intentionally to load the bases.

Fox fouled off four straight pitches before walking on a close 3-2 pitch that had DiFelice extending his arms and walking toward plate umpire Bill Welke as the Cubs celebrated.