Yankees 7 – Blue Jays 4

TORONTO – How big was it that Alex Rodriguez finally delivered a hit in the clutch last night?

If the Yankees had not beaten the Blue Jays, 7-4, at SkyDome, their lead over the Red Sox would have been shaved to 4 ½ games with Esteban Loaiza starting tonight.

So, not only did A-Rod break an 0-for-13 slump with runners in scoring position with his two-run single in the ninth inning, but he also enabled the Yankees to stay 5 ½ games ahead of the Red Sox.

Presented with his third chance of the game to come through in the clutch, A-Rod didn’t fail like he did in the fifth, when he banged into a rally-killing double play, and in the seventh, when he grounded softly to short with a runner on second and one out.

“The one thing I was happy with versus the other at-bats was that I attacked the ball,” said A-Rod, who drove in Derek Jeter and Gary Sheffield to break a 4-4 tie and also scored the final run on Hideki Matsui’s RBI single. “I wasn’t going to get myself in a situation where I gave it a three-quarter swing. If I struck out, I struck out. If I got a good pitch to hit I was going to swing the [bleep] out of it and see what happens.”

What happened was, A-Rod ripped an 0-2 fastball clocked at 94 mph from right-handed reliever Jason Frasor into the left-field corner to score Jeter and Sheffield. As the bullet headed for the outfield, A-Rod slammed his bat to the ground and looked into a dugout stuffed with smiling faces.

“It was a sigh of relief,” said A-Rod, who came into the game with four hits in his last 29 at-bats (.138) with runners in scoring position and was batting .197 (23-for-117) for the year in the clutch.

This was the best all-around player in baseball? Hardly.

Lefty reliever C.J. Nitkowski (1-1) posted the victory by retiring left-handed hitters Carlos Delgado and Eric Hinske in the eighth. Mariano Rivera worked a perfect ninth for his MLB-leading 44th save in 47 chances.

Jon Lieber, who gave up a pair of two-run homers – to Delgado in the first and Orlando Hudson in the third – as the Blue Jays took a 4-0 lead, allowed six hits in 7 1/3 innings.

While the Yankees were trying to figure out Blue Jays starter Dave Bush, Lieber pitched out of a second-and-third, no-out spot in the third inning after Hudson’s homer. Lieber started a streak of 13 straight outs to keep the deficit at 4-0.

A-Rod’s game-winning hit made the wall before left fielder Gabe Gross got to it. But after a wide turn at first, A-Rod didn’t make second like he should have.

“I was so pumped up about the hit, I [messed up] on the bases,” said A-Rod, who scored on Matsui’s single after being balked to second.

After Sheffield scored from second, he acknowledged A-Rod’s slump-busting hit by pointing at him. However, it was advice Sheffield offered before the game that was more helpful.

“I told him to draw a box and if they don’t throw it in the box don’t swing,” said Sheffield, who doubled hard off Frasor after Jeter opened the ninth with a 3-2 walk. “If they throw it in the box try to hit it out of the park. Don’t be a slap hitter.”

So, the obvious question is can A-Rod turn a colossal hit into a hot streak in the clutch?

“These guys have been carrying me but my time is coming,” A-Rod said. “There is no question I can build on this. I will build on it.”