Blue Jays keep Yankees down

NEW YORK -- Phil Hughes showed promise. A.J. Burnett showed him how it's done.

Burnett dominated the struggling Yankees and outclassed their prized prospect on the mound, sending last-place New York to its sixth straight loss by pitching the Toronto Blue Jays to a 6-0 victory last night.

"He's got the capability of doing that every time he goes out there. All we have to do is keep him healthy," Toronto center fielder Vernon Wells said.

Making his much-anticipated major league debut, Hughes received a rough welcome from the hard-hitting Blue Jays and a valuable lesson in power pitching from Burnett.

"I don't think you can really ever know what it's going to be like," Hughes said. "I made a few good pitches, but when you're falling behind so much like I was, it's hard to put guys away. I really wanted to stay away from the walks, so when I fell behind, I probably made too good of pitches, and guys like Wells aren't going to miss those."

The Yankees (8-12) are on their longest skid since they dropped six in a row from May 28-June 3, 2005. They managed only four singles and are percentage points behind Tampa Bay in the AL East.

"There's going to be panic soon if the winning doesn't start," said center fielder Johnny Damon. "We have to stay close. If we can't start getting victories, I'm sure there's not going to be too many happy people."

Wells went 3 for 3 with two walks for Toronto, giving him seven hits in his last eight at-bats and 11 in his past 14. Frank Thomas drove in two runs, and leadoff batter Alex Rios scored three times and knocked in a run.

The Blue Jays have won three straight, all against the Red Sox and Yankees, after losing a season-worst five in a row.

"We played some really good baseball the last three games against the teams we have to beat," manager John Gibbons said.

Hughes allowed four runs in 4 1/3 innings.

Still waiting for Mike Mussina to get healthy, the Yankees called up Hughes from Triple A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and handed him the ball even after a rainout Wednesday night.

Considered one of the top pitching prospects in baseball, the 20-year-old righthander from California became only the second pitcher drafted in the first round by the Yankees to reach the big leagues with New York.

Hughes gave up a hard single to Rios on his second pitch. After Adam Lind struck out, Wells hit a loud RBI double over Damon's head. He scored on Thomas's opposite-field single.