As has been the case so often this year, the Blue Jays offence was almost non-existent Thursday afternoon in the Bronx.

Unlike most of those dreary outcomes, this time a little was just enough.

The Jays touched up a resurgent CC Sabathia for a pair of early unearned runs and then J.A. Happ and friends made them stand up for a 3-1 victory and a 2-1 series victory at Yankee Stadium.

Sabathia gave up just two singles over seven innings. Both hits came in the top of the third after he should have been out of the inning, but for an error by shortstop DiDi Gregorius.

Edwin Encarnacion delivered the key blow for Toronto, a two-run bases-loaded single.

Devon Travis delivered his first RBI of the season with a two-out single in the top of the ninth against flame-throwing reliever Aroldis Chapman.

Starlin Castro connected for his sixth home run off Happ with two outs in the bottom of the first to give New York a 1-0 lead. Happ followed up that opposite-field shot by retiring 11 of the next 12 batters he faced.

Meanwhile, the Jays made the Yankees pay for Gregorius’s fielding error in the third by turning it into a two-run rally. With one out, Gregorius tried to backhand a grounder hit by Travis but had it bounce past him into left field. Another out later Jose Bautista singled sharply into centre field. After Josh Donaldson walked to load the bases, Encarnacion drilled a single into left, scoring two runs to give Toronto the lead.

Happ sailed into the fifth inning on a one-hitter but, with one out, Chase Headley and Gregorius hit consecutive singles before the lefthander got out of it with a double-play ball off the bat of Kevin Romine.

After the Encarnacion two-run single in the third, Sabathia retired 13 of the next 14 batters he faced. The only Toronto baserunner in that sequence was Michael Saunders, who was hit by a Sabathia pitch with two out in the sixth. The big lefty was the picture of economy, needing just 83 pitches to get through his seven innings.

Happ was almost as efficient as Sabathia, allowing just three hits through his seven innings. He also walked three batters and struck out five. Gavin Floyd pitched around a leadoff single in the eighth without damage and then closer Roberto Osuna retired the Yanks in order in the ninth for his 10th save.

Given recent events, Dellin Betances got Bautista’s attention in a big way in the top of the eighth when he came up and in with a 99-mph fastball dangerously close to Bautista’s head. Bautista went down in a heap but got back up and ripped a ball into centre field, turning a single into a double when centre fielder Aaron Hicks was slow getting the ball back in. Bautista got no further as Betances got out of the inning.

In the ninth the Blue Jays got their first look of the season at flamethrower Chapman. After Justin Smoak delivered a one-out single, Chapman struck out Russell Martin. The last two pitches in that at-bat were 101-mph fastballs. Kevin Pillar kept the inning alive with another single into right field. Travis then worked the count to 2-2 before dumping a third straight single into right field, scoring Smoak from second base.