Yankees-Blue Jays: David Purcey struggles in Toronto's 5-1 loss to New York

All good things must come to an end, and unfortunately for the Toronto Blue Jays, their modest three-game winning streak against divisional rivals (Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees) ended much too early.

Blue Jays rookie David Purcey (2-4) struggled mightily throughout the game and never got comfortable on the mound.

The Yankees were able to strike early against Purcey, scoring two quick runs in the first inning.

The inning started off with three consecutive singles off the bats of Yankee hitters, loading the bases with zero outs. A sacrifice fly from Jason Giambi and a run-scoring single from Xavier Nady got the Yankees off to a very good start.

After getting out of the second and third innings unscathed, Purcey would make a mistake that would ultimately mean his departure from the game.

Purcey served up a big, fat meatball to the light-hitting Derek Jeter, who went on to deposit the ball over the fence for a three-run homer.

Purcey's night was done after the inning. He threw for only four innings this start, giving up five runs on seven hit and two walks, striking out just two batters. His ERA ballooned to 6.55.

Reliever Brian Tallet made his return to the bullpen after an extended absence due to injury, and he threw two shutout innings. Jesse Carlson (one inning) and Jason Frasor (two innings) also went out in relief and threw scoreless innings.

Purcey's counterpart, Andy Pettitte (13-9), another left-hander, fared much better. Pettitte only ran into trouble in one inning. In the sixth, he gave up three hits in a row, which resulted in a RBI single from the bat of Alex Rios.

Pettitte finished the night having thrown seven strong innings, giving up just a single run on only five hits and zero walks, striking out four batters.

Brian Bruney came on in relief of Pettitte and threw two perfect innings to end the game.

Up next: Roy Halladay (14-9) will try to get the series victory for the Toronto Blue Jays against the Yankees' Sidney Ponson (7-3).