"Mark Teixeira called the fifth-inning at-bat "the one I wanted the most."

The first baseman had faced Toronto lefty Ricky Romero twice during the game -- hitting a single with nobody on base and lining out hard with one man aboard.

In the fifth inning, however, Teixeira came up with the bases loaded, nobody out and the Yankees down one.

"The one I wanted the most, he just threw a good hard fastball. I just didn't get the head out," Teixeira said. "Just a bad at-bat."

And a bad result.

Teixeira popped out softly to short, and the lack of clutch production followed as Alex Rodriguez banged into a 6-4-3 double play -- ending the inning and squandering a huge Yankees threat. It was part of the reason why the Yankees lost 5-3 to the Blue Jays in the opener of their three-game series in The Bronx.

"We need one hit and the game would have been tied in the fifth," manager Joe Girardi said. "Bases loaded, nobody out, we didn't score. And then they score two in the sixth."

Rodriguez had another chance in the seventh inning, coming to the plate with two on and two outs, with the Yankees down 5-2. But he struck out, chasing a Casey Janssen curveball.

For the night, Rodriguez came to the plate five times, with seven runners on base. He stranded all of them and finished 0-for-5 with two strikeouts."