TORONTO -- After watching Randy Johnson get roughed up by the Blue Jays on Tuesday night, Mike Mussina knew that Wednesday's game against Toronto was going to present quite a challenge.

Fortunately for the Yankees, Mussina was on top his game, holding the high-powered Jays offense to one run over 7 1/3 innings to lead New York to a 3-1 victory.

"It was a masterpiece," said manager Joe Torre. "He was in total control, and he gave us what we needed after last night."

The Yankees evened their record at 7-7, as they head home for their first extended homestand of the season, which kicks off Friday against the Orioles.

The win marked the first time this season the Yankees won while scoring less than nine runs.

"You have to win the close games once in a while, and you have to win the low-scoring ones once in a while," Mussina said. "Today, we got both, and it was good to see."

Mussina and Ted Lilly engaged in a scoreless battle through the first four innings, though Lilly had to battle his way there.

The Yankees loaded the bases in the third and fourth, but Jason Giambi struck out to end the third and the Blue Jays got a break on a missed call by second base umpire Bruce Froemming to end the fourth, as he called Johnny Damon out at second on a force play even though second baseman Aaron Hill never had control of the ball before it hit the ground.

Alex Rodriguez got the Yankees on the board in the fifth, belting his fifth homer of the season and third in the last three games. The home run was No. 435 for A-Rod, tying him with Juan Gonzalez for 35th place on the all-time list.

New York added another run in the fifth, as Hideki Matsui scored while Jorge Posada was caught in a rundown between second and third, beating the play by a step before the out ended the inning.

Lilly left after five innings and 100 pitches, charged with two runs on seven hits and five walks.

"Today, runs weren't easy to come by on either side," Mussina said. "But the guys were able to fight and get a handful, just enough to get us a win."

Mussina had little trouble early, allowing only two hits through the first five innings, one coming on a leadoff double by Frank Catalanotto in the fourth. The veteran showed a wide variety of pitches, keeping the Jays off-balance while striking out six hitters through five.

"I thought the inning Catalanotto led off with a double, then I got [Vernon] Wells to hit a ground ball to me, struck [Troy] Glaus out and got [Lyle] Overbay to fly out to left, that was a pretty big inning," Mussina said. "A leadoff double and he doesn't even advance to third, that was big."

Toronto finally put a run on the board with three consecutive one-out singles in the sixth, but Mussina responded by striking out Wells and getting Overbay to ground out, limiting the damage to a single run.

"We didn't swing the bats well today, but I think that had more to do with Mike than anything else," Gregg Zaun said. "He pitched a heck of a game. Sometimes you run into a guy like that, that has a great day and you tip your hat to him."

Kyle Farnsworth retired Glaus and Overbay with each man representing the tying run in the eighth.

"It's important for him more than for me, because he has the ball in his hand," Torre said. "In a close game, to pitch like he did today, it's something he can go back and think about."

Mariano Rivera tossed a scoreless ninth to earn his second save of the season.

"What was nice today is that it went the way everybody tries to draw it up," Mussina said. "I pitched seven innings, Farnsworth gets a clean inning, Mo gets a clean inning and we win, 3-1. You have to win these games from time to time, because you're going to get more of these games against your tough competition."