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(Sports Network) - For the New York Yankees to gain ground in the American League East standings, they'll have to improve their play against division opponents. The Bronx Bombers have an opportunity to gain a needed series win against such a rival this afternoon, when the club concludes a three-game set with the Toronto Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium.

The Yankees drew even in this series on Wednesday behind another outstanding performance by Mike Mussina. The battle-tested veteran held Toronto to one run over six innings as New York stopped a three-game losing streak with a 5-1 victory over the Blue Jays.

Mussina (9-4) joined the Angels' Joe Saunders and Cleveland's Cliff Lee as the AL's lone nine-game winners this season after the 39-year-old yielded just five hits and struck out six while issuing only one walk.

Johnny Damon paced the Yankee offense with three hits and an RBI, while Wilson Betemit contributed a solo home run to the winning effort. Hideki Matsui finished 2-for-3 with an RBI single to raise his AL-leading season average to .337.

Derek Jeter added an RBI single in the third inning, the New York shortstop's 2,416th career hit in a Yankee uniform. That moved Jeter past Mickey Mantle and into third place on the franchise's all-time list.

New York got to Jesse Litsch (7-2) for four runs and 10 hits over the first 5 1/3 innings, halting a string of five straight winning decisions for the young Toronto right-hander.

Alex Rios went 2-for-3 and scored the Blue Jays' lone run on Scott Rolen's sixth-inning double.

Toronto will be wrapping up a nine-game road trip today and has gone 4-4 thus far on the trek, although the club has dropped three of its last four tests.

Chien-Ming Wang will try to follow Mussina's lead in this afternoon's finale, with the Yankee ace also attempting to break out of a month-long slump.

Wang is winless over his last five starts, having registered two losses and three no-decisions, and produced a lackluster 5.67 earned run average during that stretch. The sinker specialist had gone 6-0 with a 3.00 ERA over his first seven outings of the season.

The Taiwanese right-hander has allowed five runs or more in each of his three most recent starts, including Saturday's no-decision at Minnesota in which he was touched for five runs and nine hits in 5 1/3 innings of work.

Wang did defeat the Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium in his season debut on April 2, surrendering just two runs and six hits over a strong seven innings. He is 4-2 with a 3.98 ERA in eight career starts against Toronto.

Dustin McGowan puts a two-start win streak on the line this afternoon for the Blue Jays. The talented right-hander earned his first road victory of the season Friday in Anaheim, where McGowan permitted four runs -- three earned -- and struck out six Angels over six innings in a 10-4 Toronto triumph.

The 26-year-old had been coming off a sharp performance against Kansas City on May 25, with McGowan scattering nine hits and limiting the Royals to one run in seven innings to record a win.

McGowan is just 1-3 with a 5.68 ERA in seven road starts this season, but he did pitch well at Yankee Stadium back on April 3. In that game, the right- hander gave up just two runs and four hits in a six-inning no-decision.

In 10 career appearances (6 starts) against New York, McGowan is 2-2 with a 5.21 ERA.

New York won two of three encounters with the Jays in the Bronx from April 1-3 and is 20-13 against Toronto at home since the start of the 2005 campaign.