NEW YORK — Mark Teixeira and
Robinson Cano supplied the early offense that ended Joel Pineiro's
seven-game winning streak, and the New York Yankees beat the Los Angeles
Angels 10-6 Wednesday to split their two-game series.
Rookie pinch-hitter Colin Curtis, who
inherited an 0-2 count after Brett Gardner was ejected, added a
three-run homer in the seventh inning that made it 10-5. Cano and Juan
Miranda also connected for the Yankees, who finished 4-4 against the
Angels this season after defeating them in last year's AL championship
series.
Pitching on 10 days' rest, Javier
Vazquez (8-7) nearly squandered a six-run cushion, withering quickly in
the sweltering humidity on an 88-degree afternoon that felt like hot
soup. But the right-hander hung on just long enough — with major help
from the bullpen — for his 150th career win, becoming the third active
pitcher to beat all 30 major league teams.
The Yankees said San Francisco's Barry
Zito and Philadelphia's Jamie Moyer are the others, according to the
Elias Sports Bureau.
Bobby Wilson and ex-Yankee Hideki
Matsui each hit a two-run homer for Los Angeles. Matsui's drive cut it
to 6-5 in the sixth, but David Robertson and Joba Chamberlain wriggled
out of jams to keep New York ahead. Mariano Rivera worked a perfect
ninth.
Pineiro (10-7) was 7-0 with a 2.51 ERA
in his previous eight starts, but 10 of his first 21 batters got hits
as the Yankees built a 6-0 lead. Teixeira doubled twice and drove in
three runs, Cano hit a two-run shot and Derek Jeter had three hits and
scored three times.
Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez went 0-for-5 with an RBI groundout, remaining at 598 home runs.
Miranda hit a solo shot off Scot
Shields in the seventh to make it 7-5. Curtis Granderson singled and
went to third on Francisco Cervelli's hit-and-run single off the glove
of leaping second baseman Howie Kendrick before Gardner was ejected for
arguing a strike call by plate umpire Paul Emmel.
Curtis took over, worked the count
full and hit a line drive just over the right-field fence for his first
major league homer, prompting a curtain call from the crowd of 47,521.
Los Angeles has dropped eight of 10
on the road. The Angels, who began the day five games behind the
first-place Rangers in the AL West, open a four-game series at Texas on
Thursday night with Jered Weaver on the mound against Cliff Lee in a
marquee pitching matchup.
Teixeira hustled for a first-inning
double that set up Rodriguez's run-scoring groundout. The switch-hitting
slugger has reached base safely in a career-best 37 consecutive games,
the longest streak by a Yankees player since Rodriguez got to 53
straight in 2004.
Jeter led off the third with an
infield single to the shortstop hole that was bobbled by Erick Aybar,
who tried to backhand the ball. Nick Swisher doubled and Teixeira hit a
two-run single. One out later, Cano homered into the New York bullpen
for a 5-0 lead.
Jeter and Swisher opened the fourth
with singles before Teixeira sliced a double into the left-field corner,
making it 6-0.
Teixeira also made a tough, backhand
stab of Matsui's hard smash to first in the second.
Matsui, last year's World Series MVP
for the Yankees, also homered in the Angels' 10-2 victory Tuesday night.
Entering the series, he had one home run since June 7.
Notes
Matsui made his 16th start of
the season in LF, and regular RF Bobby Abreu was the DH for the eighth
time. … Yankees C Jorge Posada was rested. … New York ace CC
Sabathia turned 30. He starts Thursday night in the opener of a
four-game series against Kansas City. … Rodriguez hit career homer No.
1 (in June 1995) and No. 500 (in August 2007) against the Royals. …
Vazquez is 1-3 in seven career starts against the Angels. … A Yankees
ball boy stationed down the left-field line made a beautiful, leaping
grab of Rivera's foul liner, drawing applause from New York players on
the bench.