NEW YORK -- Russell Martin might be Canadian, but it's pretty evident that he loves playing in the Big Apple.
Martin picked up the 12th multihomer game of his career in the Blue Jays' dramatic come-from-behind, 12-6 victory over the Yankees on Tuesday night. Each of his last three multihomer games have come at Yankee Stadium, a place he called home from 2011-12.
The former Yankees catcher finished his night 2-for-5 with three RBIs and helped Toronto rally from six runs down after five innings to reclaim sole possession of first place in the American League East.
"I wish you guys wouldn't have told me that, now I'm going to be thinking about it," Martin jokingly said when informed of his recent numbers at Yankee Stadium. "I like playing in New York, it's a good city. I like the atmosphere, there's always good energy. That might be a good reason. I don't know, maybe I'm holding something against the Yankees."
Martin can't explain the recent success, but his performance was part of what became a historic night at Yankee Stadium. New York catcher Gary Sánchez also went deep twice in the loss, which made Tuesday night just the fourth time in Major League history that both starting catchers hit multiple home runs.

The other times both catchers went deep were Sept. 29, 2009, Arizona at San Francisco (Miguel Montero, Bengie Molina); Aug. 9, 1977, San Diego at Montreal (Gene Tenace, Gary Carter); and Aug. 9, 1966, Houston at Chicago (John Bateman, Randy Hundley). This was the first time it ever happened in the AL.
Those tidbits are interesting enough on their own, but more importantly for Toronto, the two home runs resulted in a key victory. Martin's first shot of the night immediately followed a two-run homer by Troy Tulowitzki in the sixth inning and cut New York's lead to two. His second put the Blue Jays in front for good in the eighth inning.
"One thing Russ always does, he has that knack for doing something when you definitely need it," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "I've seen him do it before, but he has that knack of stepping up. He played here, he's familiar with this place, and even though he has his ups and downs along the way, he does big things for you."
Martin also appears to be surging at the right time for Toronto. This is the point of the season when the production from a lot of catchers seems to fade, but the Blue Jays have done a good job of making sure he has received appropriate rest, and the move has paid off in a big way.
The 33-year-old has homered in three consecutive games for the second time in his career. He has reached base in 27 of his last 30 starts, with 13 extra-base hits, 19 walks and an OPS well above .800 over that span.
"It just felt like the momentum was shifting in our direction," Martin said of Tuesday's comeback, which started after a rain delay. "Whenever everybody gets that good feeling and is anxious to get up to the plate it's a good sign. We definitely got a little bit lucky. We got [Yankees starter Michael] Pineda out of the game, it looked like he had his 'A' game today. You just have to point to the sky and thank whoever's up there for helping us out right there."