A-Rod tries to stay hot against Twins

Sep 2, 2006, 14:30 GMT

- Alex Rodriguez hopes to continue his resurgence this afternoon when the New York Yankees play the second installment of a three- game series with the Minnesota Twins at Yankee Stadium.

In the opener of the set on Friday Rodriguez blasted a pair of home runs, and Cory Lidle hurled six shutout innings as New York rolled to an 8-1 win. Rodriguez finished 3-for-5 with three runs batted in for the Yankees, who won for the third time in four games and remained eight games ahead of Boston in the American League East.

Derek Jeter finished 3-of-5 with two runs scored while Bobby Abreu was also 3- for-5 with two RBI.

Rodriguez, who went 2-for-20 with 14 strikeouts in a five-game stretch last week, notched his third multi-homer effort of the season and has six RBI over his last three games with three homers in his last two contests.

Lidle (3-2) allowed just two hits and fanned four en route to the win.

Justin Morneau was 2-for-4 with an RBI double for the Twins, who lost for the fourth time in five games but remained just one-half game behind Chicago in the AL wild card race. Joe Mauer and Michael Cuddyer were the only other Twins to record a hit.

Carlos Silva (8-13) lasted just four innings and allowed six runs -- four earned -- on nine hits and picked up the loss.

Getting the call for the Yankees today will be rookie right-hander Jeff Karstens, who is coming off the first major league win of his career. Karstens, in just his second start, held the LA Angels of Anaheim to three runs and six hits in six innings on Sunday to improve to 1-0 to go along with a 4.63 ERA.

Minnesota will counter with righty Scott Baker, who was recalled from Triple-A Rochester prior to Friday's loss. Baker was sent to the minors after his last start against Texas back on August 1 after allowing eight runs in 3 1/3 innings.

Baker, who is 3-7 with a 6.93 ERA, defeated the Yankees earlier in the season in his only other meeting against them, giving up a run on three hits in seven innings.

The Twins took two of three from the Yankees in mid-April, but are just 7-16 in the series since the start of the 2003 campaign. Minnesota has also struggled in the Bronx, where it has won just once in its last 10 visits.

© 2006 The Sports Network