ronto Blue Jays Vernon Wells watches his two run homer during third inning AL action against the New York Yankees in Toronto on Wednesday August 25, 2010. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank GunnFRANK GUNN/The Canadian Press
Vernon Wells knows the pain that the slumping Aaron Hill is going through having been there once or twice himself as the most tenured employee for the Toronto Blue Jays.
"He's been grinding," said Wells in the aftermath of a 6-3 Blue Jays victory over the New York Yankees at Rogers Centre on Wednesday night, speaking of the offensive struggles he has witnessed his teammate go through of late.
"I know where he is, we've all been there," continued Wells. "I think it tests you. You go through these struggles, they'll define what kind of person you are and what kind of man you are.
"He'll come out of this and he'll be better because of it."
Wells was the hitting hero for the Blue Jays in the contest, going 3-for-4 with a home run and a triple, driving in four of the Toronto runs.
Hill also factored in the outcome, stepping up to the plate in the fifth inning with his team leading 5-2, in the throes of a 0-for-20 batting slide.
Hitting a paltry .206 heading into the game and then finding himself relegated from sixth to eighth in the batting order of manager Cito Gaston, Hill responded by lashing a home run to left field, his 19th of the season, to round out the scoring for the Blue Jays.
"I didn't know it was that," said Hill, when it was suggested the home run was a pretty excellent way of breaking out of his hitless streak. "It's kind of been the whole year. Kind of just go out and do what you got to do and hopefully do good in some other things and win ball games other ways."
It was a satisfying victory for the Blue Jays, who gained a 2-1 series victory over the Yankees with the victory.
Toronto has now won seven of the 12 games against New York this season, a pretty good record against a team that is vying for first place in the American League East.
And it wouldn't have been possible without the timely hitting of Wells, who began the contest with a triple in the first inning that scored Fred Lewis and provided the Blue Jays with the early lead.
With a two-run homer in the third and a run-scoring single in the fourth, Wells came to the plate for the last time in the sixth needing a double to become just the third Blue Jay to hit for the cycle, the first since Jeff Frye did it in 2001.
Wells fell short, however, flying out to left.
"Thinking about it but I was quite exhausted after the first at-bat," Wells joked. "Too old to be hitting triples in the first."
For Wells, the home run was his 23rd of the season and his first since Aug. 3, also against the Yankees.