TORONTO -- The Yankees did something on Thursday that they hadn't done in more than two weeks: they won two in a row.

The victory, a 4-3 decision over the Toronto Blue Jays, came largely in part due to the bullpen, which had its finest night of the season.

Five relievers combined for 3 2/3 innings of shutout ball, handing Mike Mussina his first victory of the season.

"Our bullpen won this game for us," Mussina said. "We needed it as a group, and they needed it, to put together a big game like this."

Buddy Groom, Felix Rodriguez, Mike Stanton, Tom Gordon and Mariano Rivera strolled out one by one over the final four innings, putting out several fires with the Yankees clinging to a one-run lead.

The bullpen, which as a group had allowed the first batter they faced to reach base 20 out of 40 times, got the first guy out four out of five times, the only exception coming when Groom intentionally walked Reed Johnson to load the bases in the sixth. Groom then got Gregg Zaun to pop out to end the inning, retiring the only batter he actually pitched to.

"As manager, you certainly want a five-run lead, but as it turned out, it was probably the best thing that could have happened to us," said manager Joe Torre. "We had a lot of guys come out of the bullpen that had to pitch under some pressure, and they all got through it."

"We had fun tonight," Gordon said. "We were able to put ourselves in good situations. Getting the first guy out was something we were having trouble with, but tonight, we were able to get out of some jams."

Toronto actually out-hit New York, 13-9, but the Yankees made the most of their hits. Gary Sheffield doubled in a run in the fourth against Jays starter Gustavo Chacin (3-1) to snap a scoreless tie, then Hideki Matsui plated Sheffield with a sacrifice fly. One inning later, the Yankees used a walk, a single, a sacrifice bunt and a sacrifice fly to score a third run, then got an RBI single by Bernie Williams to take a 4-0 lead.

"I thought we did a good job, offensively," Torre said. "We used very few hits to get the job done, but we had some very good at-bats."

The Blue Jays battled back in the bottom of the fifth, scoring three times against Mussina on RBI singles by Frank Catalanotto, Shea Hillenbrand and Vernon Wells. Mussina got into trouble again in the sixth, putting runners at second and third with one out.

That's when Torre's bullpen carousel started up, with Groom coming out first. After walking Johnson to load the bases, Groom got Zaun to pop up for the second out of the inning. Rodriguez came in from the bullpen, retiring Hillenbrand with the help of Jeter, who made a nice play from his knees for the out, stranding the two runners in scoring position.

Mussina (1-1) was charged with three runs on 10 hits over 5 1/3 innings, walking one and striking out five.

"Sixth inning, guys all over the place with less than two outs, to get out of that inning and still have the lead, that was big for us," Mussina said. "We needed to win a game like this to make ourselves feel better about close games. We needed to win a low-scoring, close game, so today helped out.

"We've been struggling as a team for the most part. We needed to win a close game, and I think this gives us some confidence."

Toronto threatened again in the seventh, putting the tying run at second base on Wells' one-out double. Once again, Torre called to the bullpen to put out the fire, as Stanton got Eric Hinske to fly out to center and Gordon got Alex Rios to ground out to Jeter, who made a great play to his left to end the inning and preserve the lead.

"He pitched under pressure in the seventh inning and got a huge out," said Torre of Gordon, who had struggled in his past few outings. "Jeter made a [heck] of a play. If that bouncer goes through, it would have been characterized as a bad outing, so it was big."

"He was in charge of every pitch," said Jorge Posada of Gordon. "It was good to see."

Gordon tossed a scoreless eighth, handing the ball to Rivera, who earned his third save of the season despite allowing the tying run to reach third base after a pair of singles.

"We had a lot of guys do the job tonight," Stanton said. "The bottom line is that we got the ball to Mo and Mo got the job done."

"I think our bullpen looked much better today. It was a test. We came through and did the job," Rivera said. "It helps everybody. We've been struggling a little in the bullpen, so a game like this is good for us."

None of the relievers seemed surprised that they were able to get the job done, despite the slow start several of them had gotten off to.

"It's too early. It's only been 15 games," Rodriguez said. "Everybody knows what we can do."

"When you consider that we base our success on pitching, we pitched very well tonight," Torre said. "Everybody that came out of the bullpen did the job, got the man out they needed to get out. That was really a key for us."