Yankees rout Twins

Apr 11, 2007, 3:25 GMT

Minneapolis, MN - Johnny Damon hit a three-run homer and Alex Rodriguez stayed hot with a two-run blast, as the New York Yankees pounded the Minnesota Twins, 10-1, in the middle installment of a three-game set at the Metrodome.

Kevin Thompson added a pair of RBI while Andy Pettitte tossed six scoreless frames for the Yankees, who won the opener of this series 8-2 and three of four overall.

Pettitte yielded just four hits over his outing with one walk to three strikeouts.

'The starting pitching sets the tone for us,' Rodriguez said.

Boof Bonser, meanwhile, surrendered seven runs -- six earned -- over 4 1/3 innings for Minnesota, which has dropped three of four. Jason Kubel produced his team's lone run with an RBI in the seventh.

Rodriguez's two-run blast in the first -- his sixth long ball on the young season -- gave the Yankees control from the start. Derek Jeter got on base with a one-out single before Rodriguez stepped in a batter later and cracked one into the left-field seats. With the homer, Rodriguez becomes one of eight players in MLB history to hit six home runs in the first seven games of the season. Only Mike Schmidt (7) had more homers in that span.

The Yankees went up 3-0 in the second as Robinson Cano doubled, moved to third on a Doug Mientkiewicz groundout, then scored on Melky Cabrera's single.

Four more runs in the fifth put the game away. After the first two batters reached safely to start the inning, Damon crushed a ball over the right-field wall to make it 6-0. Jeter then reached on a throwing error, swiped second, and later scored on a Jason Giambi single.

'You give a guy like Pettitte an early lead like that and he knows what to do with it,' the Twins' Michael Cuddyer said.

The Twins finally got a run in the seventh on an RBI base hit from Kubel that plated Justin Morneau, but were shut down from there.

Bobby Abreu's RBI single and Thompson's two-run double in the ninth capped the scoring.

Game Notes

These teams split the six-game season series last season for the second straight year...Cabrera finished 3-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI...The Yankees outhit the Twins 13-5.

© 2007 The Sports Network

Game Notes

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