Sep 18, 2007, 3:17 GMT
Bronx, NY - Hideki Matsui homered, and Bobby Abreu drove in a pair of runs as New York downed Baltimore, 8-5, in the opener of a three-game set at Yankee Stadium.
Doug Mientkiewicz was 1-for-1 and also drove in two runs for the Yankees, who moved within 3 1/2 games of Boston in the AL East and went 3 1/2 games ahead of Detroit in the wild card race. The Red Sox lost to Toronto, 6-1, on Monday, while the Tigers fell to the Indians, 6-5, in 11 innings.
Alex Rodriguez was 1-for-3 and matched a career-high with his 142nd RBI of the season for New York, which won for the 10th time in 12 games.
'We're in the playoffs now,' said New York's Derek Jeter. 'You can't have a letdown. Everyone in this locker room understands how big these games are.'
Phil Hughes (4-3) allowed just two runs on six hits in 5 2/3 innings to earn his first major league win at Yankee Stadium.
Nick Markakis was 2-for-5 and drove in three runs for the Orioles, who lost for just the fifth time in 13 games against New York this season.
Daniel Cabrera (9-17) was touched for six runs on eight hits in five-plus innings en route to the loss. The flame-throwing righty became the first big league pitcher to lose 17 games this season.
Down 2-0, the Yankees evened things in the second. Jorge Posada singled and Cabrera quickly loaded the bases by plunking Jason Giambi and Robinson Cano. Mientkiewicz followed by lining a two-run single to right. The Yankees first baseman was gunned down trying to stretch the hit into a double, however. Cabrera then recovered to fan Johnny Damon and Jeter to get out of the inning.
Matsui put New York on top in the third when he broke a 122-at-bat homerless drought by taking Cabrera over the wall in right-center with a two-out, solo homer, his 24th of the year.
The Yankees added two more runs in the fourth. Giambi walked and came around to score on Cano's double to the gap in left-center. Cano advanced to third on Mientkiewicz's sacrifice bunt and crossed the plate on Damon's RBI single past a drawn-in infield.
Hughes ran into a load of trouble with two outs in the sixth. The rookie sandwiched a pair of walks around an Aubrey Huff double to load the bases and then went down 1-0 to Melvin Mora before Joe Torre pulled the plug and went to Edwar Ramirez. The lanky reliever recovered to punch out Mora with a nasty changeup to end the threat.
New York pulled away with two more runs in the sixth. Cabrera walked Mientkiewicz to start the inning and was replaced by Jim Hoey, who walked Damon. Hoey did manage to fan Jeter but Abreu followed by ripping a run- scoring, ground-rule double to left-center. Rodriguez then capped the frame with a sac fly to right that made it a 7-2 game.
The Orioles tried to get back in things during the seventh. Jay Payton started things with a one-out double, advanced to third on Brian Roberts' base hit and scored on Tike Redman's RBI single to right. Ramirez managed to get Markakis to pop out but then hit Miguel Tejada with a pitch to load the bases and bring the tying run to plate. Luis Vizcaino entered the game from there and, after falling behind 3-0, whiffed Kevin Millar to wrangle out of the trouble.
Abreu's RBI single in the eighth gave the Yankees an 8-3 edge.
The Orioles threatened in the ninth off an ineffective Kyle Farnsworth. First, Markakis' one-out, run-scoring single made it 8-4. After Millar got a two-out hit, Torre was forced to go to Mariano Rivera but the Yankees closer promptly gave up an RBI double to Huff. Rivera then settled down and fanned Mora to earn his 29th save on the year.
The Orioles jumped all over Hughes in the first. Roberts doubled to right and went to third on a Redman single. Redman then swiped second before Markakis cleared the bases with a double to the gap in left-center.
Game Notes
Jeter's eighth inning double gave him 2,337 career hits as a Yankee and he passed Bernie Williams for fourth place on the franchise's all-time hit list. Only Lou Gehrig (2,721), Babe Ruth (2,518) and Mickey Mantle (2,415) are ahead of Jeter...Rodriguez also drove in 142 runs in 2002... The Yankees recalled pitchers Tyler Clippard and Chase Wright from Double-A Trenton, which won the Eastern League title on Saturday.
© 2007 The Sports Network
Game Notes.
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