Signed during the winter to be the ace sorely lacked in the Bronx the past few seasons, Sabathia (3-3) delivered an effort befitting a No. 1, particularly in the seventh, when he escaped a first-and-third, one-out jam.

Scott Rolen opened the frame with a double and moved to third on Kevin Millar's fly ball to deep centre. Sabathia intentionally walked Rod Barajas before striking out John McDonald on three pitches, and after a walk to Marco Scutaro, got Aaron Hill on a fielder's choice to keep things tied.

Yankees 3, Jays 2

Matsui's blast on a 2-2 offering from reliever Jesse Carlson (0-2) came immediately afterwards, stunning an enthusiastic and aggressively anti-Yankee crowd of 22,667 while sending the Blue Jays (23-14) to a loss in the rubber match of the three-game set with New York (17-17).

Brian Tallet started for the Blue Jays and took a 2-1 lead into the seventh, which he couldn't hold. Brett Gardner opened the inning with a walk and Francisco Cervelli followed with a hit-and-run single through the vacated opening at shortstop.

That was all for Tallet, who left a first-and-third mess for Jason Frasor. Derek Jeter tied the game with a bloop single just over the glove of second baseman McDonald before Frasor got Johnny Damon, Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez to escape the jam.

The Blue Jays built their lead on a solo shot by Alex Rios in the fourth and an RBI double by Rod Barajas in the fifth. Their hopes for more damage that inning were quashed when Gardner threw out Barajas at home as he tried to score on McDonald's single up the middle.

Tallet allowed two runs on four hits and five walks in his six innings, while Sabathia gave up five hits and four walks over his eight innings.