NEW YORK — Andy Pettitte threw 7 1/3 sharp innings in his first career start against his hometown team, reaching a couple of milestones and helping the New York Yankees beat the Houston Astros 4-3 on Friday night.
Francisco Cervelli hit a two-out, two-run single in New York's three-run first inning, and Mark Teixeira added an RBI single in the fifth, also with two outs.
Pettitte allowed two earned runs and four hits against his former team to improve to 3-0 with a 2.10 ERA in his last four starts. The left-hander, who turns 38 on Tuesday, struck out four after recording a season-high 10 Ks in his previous outing last Saturday at Toronto.
Tommy Manzella hit a two-run double in the second for Houston, which had won three straight and eight of 10. Brett Myers (4-4) allowed four runs and five hits in seven innings.
Missing Alex Rodriguez, the Yankees kicked off a nine-game homestand with their sixth consecutive win at Yankee Stadium and fourth win in five games overall. Rodriguez is day to day after an MRI revealed tendinitis in his right hip flexor.
Pettitte (8-1) reached 3,000 career innings when he retired the first two batters of the game, joining Philadelphia's Jamie Moyer as the only active pitchers to reach the mark. He became the third player to record 200 wins with the Yankees, joining Whitey Ford and Red Ruffing, and snapped a tie with Ford for 58th on the career list with win No. 237.
Pettitte got a warm ovation from the crowd of 46,883 when he left with runners on second and third. Jeff Keppinger hit a sacrifice fly off Joba Chamberlain to cut it to 4-3 before Lance Berkman struck out swinging to end the inning.
Berkman thought he checked his swing on the 2-2 pitch and flipped his bat and helmet in disgust as he went to take his position in the field.
Mariano Rivera worked a perfect ninth for his 15th save in 16 opportunities.
The Yankees got off to a fast start against Myers, even with Rodriguez and outfielder Brett Gardner (sprained left thumb) on the bench. They loaded the bases with one out and Nick Swisher drew a full-count walk to give New York the lead.
After Jorge Posada struck out, Cervelli bounced an 0-2 pitch from Myers up the middle to make it 3-0.
Myers helped himself with a nice stab on Cervelli's liner in the sixth throwing to first for the double play. Second baseman Keppinger made a great play on Ramiro Pena's bouncer in the fourth and center fielder Michael Bourn had a solid running catch on Derek Jeter's drive in the seventh.
Teixeira's looper in the fifth landed just over the head of Keppinger and drove in Kevin Russo to make it 4-2.
Notes
Astros RHP Roy Oswalt, who has wondered aloud if a trade might be best for him and the team, is keeping his options open. New York "is just as good as every other city," the Mississippi native said. "Every city I go to is big. It's different from where I grew up but baseball is baseball no matter where you play." General manager Ed Wade refused to talk about any potential deals. "I think there's really no value to it, on our part," he said. … Astros closer Matt Lindstrom felt better after he was bothered by back spasms on Thursday. Manager Brad Mills said the right-hander was going to play catch before the game. … C Posada looked sharp during pregame fielding drills. He has been limited to DH duties since he came off the DL after being sidelined with a broken right foot.