NEW YORK – Playing without three of the first four hitters in their regular lineup, the New York Yankees put speed up top and scampered for extra bases on each ball in the gap.

Curtis Granderson drove in three runs with a pair of doubles, Brett Gardner sparked the offense from his leadoff spot and New York beat the Toronto Blue Jays 7-3 on Friday to match a season high with its seventh straight victory.

“Toronto has given us a fit all year,” Gardner said. “It was a good overall team effort.”

Mark Teixeira had an RBI double and the AL East leaders got excellent work from their bullpen to hold down the Blue Jays, who lead the majors with 203 home runs.

On a blustery day in the Bronx, where wind from Hurricane Earl off shore wreaked havoc with fly balls, New York made sure the last scheduled start of Brandon Morrow’s encouraging season was a short one. The Yankees chased the right-hander after three innings, ending his five-game winning streak.

“He didn’t have very much out there today. He started the game off with an 84 mph fastball and it didn’t get much better than that,” Toronto manager Cito Gaston said.

Gardner hit a run-scoring triple and scored three times, pacing a lineup that was missing Derek Jeter, Nick Swisher and Alex Rodriguez. Ramiro Pena added an RBI single for the Yankees, who are 20-3 this season without A-Rod.

“We’ve got a good enough lineup, a good enough bullpen, a good enough starting five that if a couple guys are down and some other guys have to fill in, we still feel like we can win,” Gardner said.

Travis Snider hit a solo homer for Toronto, which fell to 7-6 against New York.

RAYS 4, ORIOLES 1: Matt Garza pitched into the sixth inning to earn his 14th win, and Carl Crawford had three hits and an RBI to lead Tampa Bay at Baltimore.

The Rays stayed 1 1/2 games behind the first-place New York Yankees in the AL East and extended their wild-card lead over Boston to seven games. Tampa Bay has won five of six and nine of 12.

Garza (14-7) gave up one run and five hits in 5 2/3 innings. It was an extension of an outstanding August in which he had a 1.27 ERA over five starts. In his last outing against the Orioles, Garza yielded four homers and seven runs in 6 1/3 innings.

TWINS 4, RANGERS 3: Denard Span delivered the go-ahead single in the seventh inning, emergency starter Matt Fox pitched 5 2/3 innings to lift host Minnesota.

Fox gave up two runs and four hits, giving the Twins’ staff a major boost after scheduled starter Nick Blackburn was forced to pitch in Thursday’s 13-inning loss to Detroit.

Alex Burnett (2-2 ), who arrived with Fox from Triple-A earlier Friday, allowed a run in 1 1/3 innings. Matt Capps recorded five outs for his eighth save with the Twins.

TIGERS 9, ROYALS 5, 11 inn.: Will Rhymes hit a two-run triple in a four-run 11th inning to lift the Detroit Tigers at Kansas City, Mo.

WHITE SOX, RED SOX, ppd.: Chicago’s game in Boston was postponed because of the threat of severe weather from Hurricane Earl. The opener of the three-game series was rescheduled as the first game of a day-night doubleheader today. The pitching rotation remains the same with Chicago’s John Danks (12-9) facing Clay Buchholz (15-5) in the first and Gavin Floyd (9-11) against Boston’s John Lackey (12-8) in the second.