NEW YORK — Alex Rodriguez homered, CC Sabathia won for the first time in a month and the New York Yankees handed the hapless Baltimore Orioles their eighth straight loss, 6-3 on Thursday.
Brett Gardner also homered and Robinson Cano had an RBI double off winless Kevin Millwood as the Yankees won their fifth consecutive game, all against last-place teams.
Sabathia (5-3) allowed three hits and struck out seven over seven innings, improving to 12-1 against the Orioles by beating them for the third time this season. Joba Chamberlain worked a perfect eighth and Mariano Rivera pitched a hitless ninth for his 12th save in 13 chances.
After issuing a leadoff walk and hitting Ty Wigginton with a pitch, Rivera got three straight outs — two on strikeouts.
New York polished off its second three-game home sweep of Baltimore this season and has won eight meetings in a row after dropping the first one of the year.
Luke Scott hit a two-run homer and Adam Jones also connected for the Orioles, who have dropped 10 of 11. One more defeat and they'll equal their longest skid of a dismal season — they lost nine in a row from April 9-17.
Acquired from Texas in a December trade, Millwood (0-6) entered with the best ERA (3.89) of any pitcher to open a season with 11 winless starts since Oakland's Rick Langford (2.62) in 1978. But the 35-year-old right-hander got himself in trouble this time and was roughed up for 10 hits over 5 2/3 innings.
Derek Jeter drew a leadoff walk in the first inning, stole third and scored on a balk when Millwood clumsily caught his spikes on the mound in mid-delivery. In an effort to avoid the balk, Millwood flipped a dribbler toward the plate as he stumbled down the dirt slope, but it was too late.
Cano added a run-scoring double over Jones' head in center to extend his hitting streak to 17 games, one shy of his career high.
Mark Teixeira doubled leading off the third and Rodriguez punched a full-count pitch to right-center for his 591st home run. Curtis Granderson added an RBI single later in the inning.
Gardner took advantage of the short porch in right, sending a leadoff drive into the front row in the sixth.
Making his 300th career start, Sabathia won for the first time since consecutive wins over Baltimore on April 28 and May 3. The big lefty went 0-2 in his next five outings, marking his longest winless stretch since July 2005 with Cleveland.
The 2007 AL Cy Young Award winner twice went six starts without a win for Cleveland, in 2002 and 2003.
Teixeira broke his bat on a sixth-inning single and the lumber sailed into the front row of seats behind the New York dugout, where it appeared to hit a young fan in the arm.
Teixeira and other Yankees players peered over the dugout roof in concern, and Teixeira gave the boy a different bat as he was tended to.
Walking under his own power, the boy was escorted under the stands by medical personnel.
Notes
Yankees starters are 5-0 with a 1.75 ERA in the last five games. … Before the game, boxers Miguel Cotto and Yuri Foreman posed for a picture with Yankees manager Joe Girardi behind home plate. Cotto and the undefeated Foreman will fight for Foreman's WBA super welterweight title Saturday night in the first prize fight at Yankee Stadium since Muhammad Ali beat Ken Norton in September 1976. … Cano went 1-for-3 with a walk, ending his run of multihit games at eight.