TORONTO —Frank Thomas drove in the winning run with a ninthinning single, and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Yankees 2–1 last night to snap New York’s sevengame winning streak.

The Yankees, who fell 5 1/2 games behind first-place Boston in the AL East, now head to Fenway Park to begin a big threegame series against their longtime rival Friday night. Roger Clemens threw 40 pitches in a bullpen session Thursday and said he has “no doubt” he’ll be able to return from a sore elbow to start the series finale Sunday night.

Johnny Damon homered and rookie Ian Kennedy allowed one hit in seven-plus innings for New York, which leads the wild-card race by 3 1/2 games over Detroit. Alex Rios led off the bottom of the ninth with a single off reliever Chris Britton (0–1), stole second and scored when Thomas grounded a clean single to center. A.J. Burnett pitched eight outstanding innings, Thomas went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and Toronto (73–73) ended a five-game skid. New York came close to taking the lead in the ninth after Bobby Abreu led off with a single against reliever Casey Janssen . Alex Rodriguez struck out and lefth a n d – 0 er Scott Downs (3–2) replaced Janssen, then gave up an infield single to Hideki Matsui. Robinson Cano’s groundout moved the runners to second and third, but Downs ended the inning by getting Melky Cabrera to ground out to first on a diving play by Lyle Overbay. Damon provided a light moment in the sixth, retiring Rios on a fly ball for the final out, then giving the ball to a fan seated in the front row in left. The fan responded by giving Damon a $20 bill. Damon took the money, ran further down the line, then handed the bill to a young child. Speaking through a chain-link portion of the outfield fence, Damon appeared to recount the story to Toronto’s relievers in the bullpen when he returned to the field in the bottom of the seventh.