TORONTO (AP) -- Alex Rodriguez helped the New York Yankees end their five-game losing streak with his bat -- and his mouth.
Rodriguez distracted Toronto third baseman Howie Clark by shouting at him on a key popup in the ninth inning, touching off arguments all over the field, and the Yankees beat the Blue Jays 10-5 Wednesday night.
"I just said, 'Hah!' That's it," Rodriguez said. "Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't."
It definitely worked in rankling the Blue Jays.
"The thing about the Yankees, one of the reasons they're so respected, is they do things right. Always have," manager John Gibbons said. "They've got a lot of pride and a lot of class. They play the game hard.
"That's not Yankee pride right there," he said. "That's not the way they play. I thought it was bush league."
Rodriguez hit an RBI single with two outs in the ninth that made it 7-5. Jorge Posada followed with a high infield pop and Rodriguez ran hard, cutting between Clark and shortstop John McDonald.
Replays showed Rodriguez shouting something, and Clark backed off at the last second. McDonald was only a few steps behind Clark, but couldn't make the catch and ball dropped for an RBI single.
"I don't know what my intention was," Rodriguez said. "I didn't say, 'I got it' or anything like that."
Clark claimed Rodriguez called for the ball.
"I heard a 'Mine' call and so I let it go," Clark said. "It wasn't Johnny Mac. What do you do? It makes you mad."
After the play, McDonald started jawing with Rodriguez, and third base umpire Chad Fairchild got between them.
Gibbons came out to argue, and exchanged words with Rodriguez and third base coach Larry Bowa before leaving the field as plate umpire Eric Cooper intervened. Rodriguez stayed on the bag with a smirk.
As Jason Giambi stepped up to hit, he seemed to get into it with catcher Jason Phillips and Cooper settled them down.
Giambi followed with a two-run single. When the game ended, many of the Blue Jays stayed on the bench, staring at Rodriguez and the Yankees.
Rodriguez brushed aside the Blue Jays' anger, saying the Yankees were "desperate" for a win.
"Honestly, I couldn't care less," he said. "They have their opinions. We're looking not to be swept."
Clark said he'd never seen -- or heard -- that play before. "This is my 16th season and it's never happened once," he said.
Rodriguez said he's often heckled by opposing players.
"That play happens to me three or four times a week, except it's not at third base, it's over in foul territory by the dugout," Rodriguez said.
The Yankees didn't quite know what to think.
"I wasn't sure that was allowed," outfielder Johnny Damon said. "If it is, maybe we'll keep on doing it."
Said manager Joe Torre: "I don't know what to feel for it. It's not like he said, 'I got it."'
It certainly was an adventuresome day for Rodriguez. He made the cover of the New York Post on Wednesday -- and not because of the Yankees' slump.
"STRAY-ROD" blared the Page 1 headline across a picture of A-Rod and an unidentified woman in Toronto earlier this week. "Alex hits strip club with mystery blonde," it continued.
"Absolutely no comment about anything personal and I certainly don't think this will be a distraction to our team," he said before Wednesday's win.
Rodriguez has been in the middle of an unusual, on-field dispute before. In Game 6 of the 2004 AL championship series, he slapped the ball from Boston pitcher Bronson Arroyo's glove, and was called out for interference.