NEW YORK - Just two starts into his career with the Yankees, Esteban Loaiza's spot in the rotation is in jeopardy.
Gabe Gross connected off Loaiza for his first major-league home run, Josh Towers took a shutout into the seventh inning and the Toronto Blue Jays won in John Gibbons' first game as manager, beating New York 5-4 Monday to stop a five-game losing streak.
"Everybody says the pressure, the pressure," said Loaiza, acquired from the White Sox for Jose Contreras on July 31. "Wearing the Yankee uniform and the pinstripes I think is a little bit more heavy than just when you get traded from Pittsburgh to another team."
Loaiza allowed his 26th homer of the season, third most in the league behind Jamie Moyer (31) and Bartolo Colon (29). As soon as Gross' two-run drive down the rightfield line hit the top of the wall and bounced over in the sixth inning, giving Toronto a 5-0 lead, the crowd of 49,853 began booing Loaiza.
"They're not playing the game. They don't know what is going on," Loaiza said. "I really don't pay attention to fans that much until the end."
He allowed five runs, four earned, and 10 hits over six innings after giving up five runs in six last week against Oakland. After superb eight-inning starts by Kevin Brown, Javier Vazquez, Orlando Hernandez and Jon Lieber, and with Mike Mussina due to come off the disabled list in the next week or two, Loaiza is pitching to stay out of the bullpen.
His next start is in Seattle, where he makes his fourth attempt for career win No.100.
"He's going to start Saturday and we'll see what we see," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "I know there's a lot more there than we saw today."
Only Brown, Mussina and Vazquez are certain to remain in the rotation.
"There are no guarantees," Torre said. "We're going to do what we think is going to work for us to start with, and then if something changes our mind, we'll make adjustments."
A'S 8, TWINS 2: Mark Kotsay and Scott Hatteberg drove in two each and Rich Harden gave the bullpen a rest for visiting Oakland.
A day after both teams used seven pitchers in the Athletics' 18-inning victory, starters Harden and Kyle Lohse pitched into the seventh. The A's took three of four in a matchup of division leaders.
ORIOLES 7, RANGERS 3: Melvin Mora homered twice and drove in three, and host Baltimore extended its win streak to seven and completed a four-game sweep.
Larry Bigbie also connected for the Orioles, who completed their first 7-0 homestand since September 1969. Baltimore, which began the run with three wins over Seattle, moved within four games of .500 (53-57) for the first time since June 13.
INDIANS 13, WHITE SOX 11: Ben Broussard hit his second career grand slam and Omar Vizquel, Travis Hafner and Casey Blake also homered as visiting Cleveland moved past Chicago for second place in the Central. Jose Valentin homered twice for the White Sox.
ANGELS 5, ROYALS 3: Ruben Gotay's throwing error allowed the go-ahead runs to score, and Anaheim rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the ninth to complete its first four-game sweep in Kansas City and extend its winning streak to five.
