With a pair of struggling teams in town, the Yankees took advantage.
Alex Rodriguez homered, CC Sabathia won for the first time in a month and the Yankees handed the hapless Baltimore Orioles their eighth straight loss, 6-3 on Thursday.
Brett Gardner also connected and Robinson Cano had an RBI double off winless Kevin Millwood as the Yankees won their fifth consecutive game, all at home against last-place squads (Cleveland and Baltimore).
“We have almost everybody healthy and with that we have a great team,” closer Mariano Rivera said. “We did what we’re supposed to do.”
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 pitched a perfect eighth and Rivera worked 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.
“After I had two guys on base, it got to a different level,” Rivera said.
The Yankees (34-20) has won eight of 10 to move a season-high 14 games over .500. The Yankees completed a 6-1 homestand and polished off their second three-game sweep of Baltimore in the Bronx this season. They have won eight meetings in a row after dropping the first one of the year.
“They seem to be running on all cylinders right now,” Baltimore manager Dave Trembley said.
Luke Scott hit a two-run homer and Adam Jones also went deep for the Orioles, who have dropped 10 of 11 — perhaps putting Trembley’s job in jeopardy. One more defeat and they’ll equal their longest skid of this dismal season, a nine-game slide 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.
“I didn’t think my stuff was that bad,” Millwood said. “I just wasn’t hitting my spots. I didn’t make enough good pitches. You walk four guys over six innings, you’re making it tough for yourself. It was one of those days where I couldn’t throw the ball where I wanted to.”
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.
“I didn’t hit it too good,” he said.
Making his 300th career start, Sabathia won for the first time since successive 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.
“I got into some spots the last couple games where I was in some good counts and couldn’t put guys away,” Sabathia said. “So tonight was just a little different.”
The 2007 AL Cy Young Award winner twice went six starts without a win for the Indians, in 2002 and ’03.
“I saw a lot of good things today,” Yankees pitching coach Dave Eiland said. “He’s very close. I’m not concerned really about anything with him.”