NEW YORK -- Was it the cologne or the bat?

Inquiring minds wanted to know what led to Toronto Blue Jays manager John Gibbons getting in Josh Donaldson's face during a brief dugout encounter in the third inning.

Both sides shrugged it off and joked about it, but then again since the Blue Jays have hit so well in the last two games, they can afford some levity.

The Blue Jays had plenty to smile about Wednesday when J.A. Happ pitched 7 1/3 innings to become the first 17-game winner in the major leagues and the bats produced another big offensive day during a 7-4 win over the New York Yankees.

Donaldson exited the game after his sixth inning at-bat with a jammed right thumb. He had the thumb wrapped as he spoke about the events of the third inning following his second strikeout against CC Sabathia.

After striking out a second time, Donaldson slammed his bat against the railing in front of the dugout. After taking of his helmet, Gibbons began yelling at Donaldson near the bat rack before Troy Tulowitzki and Josh Thole interceded.

"I was just coming back to the dugout and I hit my bat against the thing," Donaldson said. "Gibby asked me what kind of cologne I was wearing. I said 'it's a new cologne called Tom Ford, I just got it. He was like really.' So he kind of got pretty close to me and I guess got a good whiff of it. I was like, 'Hey man back up. So I'll give you some after the game.'"

Said Gibbons: "Actually I told after him the first at-bat, get a new bat. That one (isn't) working. He took the same one up the second time. That didn't work. He chose to break it. So I went down and told him you should have listened to me. That was basically it."

The Blue Jays had a 3-1 lead at the time on a double by Ezquiel Carrera and a two-run double by Darwin Barney. They added three more two innings later on an RBI single by Russell Martin and a three-run home run by Melvin Upton Jr, which occurred after a throwing error by Yankees third baseman Chase Headley.

"We know that we can't give them extra base runners or extra outs, because they can turn that into big innings," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "And they did it to us today, and they did it to us yesterday, and it really hurt us."

Those were enough for Happ (17-3), who allowed four runs and seven hits in 7 1/3 innings on a day when he gave up solo home runs to rookie Gary Sanchez, Starlin Castro and Headley. Happ won his 11th straight decision and joined David Wells and Jimmy Key as the only left-handers to get 17 wins for the Blue Jays, who have won his last 12 starts.

The Blue Jays were held scoreless for the first 14 innings of the series but following a 42-minute rain delay Tuesday, they have scored 26 times while going 25-for-71 (.352) and have won six of seven and 11 of their last 15 trips to New York. Toronto also became the sixth team to win six straight series against the Yankees in New York.

"It's a tough place to win but shoot we were overdue," Gibbons said. "We struggled so bad here. But we're a better team than we were back then, so that makes a lot of difference."

The only time Toronto seemed to have its lead threatened came after Joaquin Benoit allowed an RBI single to Aaron Judge. With two on, Roberto Osuna fanned Didi Gregorius to end the eighth before quickly getting his 27th save.

The Yankees fell 7 1/2 games behind the Blue Jays as CC Sabathia allowed seven runs and nine hits in six innings. Sabathia struck out 12 and became the first Yankee in team history to allow seven runs and get at least 12 strikeouts.

"I was trying to make pitches," Sabathia said. "I've got to do a better job of not giving up the three-run homer that will compound everything. It's a team game, and we're in it together."

NOTES: According to YES Network research, C Gary Sanchez (23 years, 259 days), is the youngest Yankee to bat fourth before Sept. 1since Don Mattingly on July 31, 1984 (23 years, 103 days). ... OF Kevin Pillar (right thumb) continued doing baseball activities and will have a full workout before Toronto's game Friday in Cleveland. He could do a rehab stint with Class A Dunedin and return next week when eligible. ...Tuesday's game marked the fourth time in baseball history opposing starting catchers had two home runs. It was the first time in the American League and the first time since Sept. 29, 2009, when Arizona's Miguel Montero and San Francisco's Bengie Molina did it. ... The Yankees optioned LHP Chasen Shreve to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre and recalled RHP Kirby Yates from there.