Monday, June 3, 2013

Andy Pettitte's first start off the DL might not have gone the way he had hoped it would go. But thanks to the help of a Mark Teixeira grand slam and a two-run Brett Gardner single, the Yankee were able to make up for Pettitte's sluggish start and defeat the Indians, 7-4, Monday night at the Stadium.

Scoreless though the first two innings, the Indians started off the 3rd inning with a couple of soft singles from Michael Bourn and Mike Aviles, followed by an Asdrubal Cabrera sac-bunt.

Next batter Nick Swisher grounded a ball over to David Adams at 3rd base. He applied to tag to Aviles coming into 3rd, letting Bourn score on the fielders-choice.

The Yankees jumped right back in the bottom of the inning when Reid Brignac and Austin Romine singled to start things off, then Brett Gardner walked to load the bases. Robbie Cano grounded into an out at home for the 1st out of the inning.

Next batter Mark Teixeira took a 1st pitch sinker and lined over the right field wall the give the Yankees a 4-1 lead. It was Teixeira's 1st homerun of the season and 8th career grand slam.

"You wanted to make sure you didn't let Masterson get in too much of a groove, because he's one of those guys who can go out there and dominate," Teixeira said. "So [the grand slam] was a big home run for us."

Pettitte was pitching fairly well though the first 4 innings before running into trouble in the 5th. A double and a single put runners on the corners to lead things off, then a shallow sac-fly into center field caught by a retreating Cano, allowed the speedy Drew Stubbs to score from 3rd.

Asdrubal Cabrera grounded into a fielders-choice for the 2nd out, but then Pettitte walked the next two hitters to load the bases. After a string of 10 straight balls, Pettitte worked a full-count on Carlos Santana, who ripped a grounder that bounced off David Adams glove and into the stands allowing two runs to score.

Pettitte would be removed from the game after the two-run double, only finishing 4.2 innings allowing 4 runs on 7 hits while walking 3 and striking out 3.

The Yankees reclaimed the lead in the 6th inning when Brett Gardner singled up the middle on a ball that would let Ichiro and Romine come around the score and give the Yankees a 6-4 lead. Travis Hafner added another run in the 7th with a towering solo homerun to right field for his 9th of the season.

After relieving Pettitte in the 5th inning, the Yankees bullpen come out for another shutdown night. With Shawn Kelley, Joba Chamberlain, David Robertson, and Mariano River combining for 4.1 innings, with only one hit coming off Rivera in the 9th.

"The bullpen's been the bullpen," catcher Austin Romine said. "Those are guys we can rely on. It's not just one or two guys; it's all of them. They come in, they put the fire out when they need to, they throw strikes and they get people out."

Coming into the game the Yankees had lost 7 of their last 8 games and trailed the Red Sox by three games in the AL East.

"We needed this win," Teixeira said. "We've had a rough enough streak the last week and a half, two weeks, as it is, so we needed this one tonight. So that grand slam was just good for me and good for the team."

Game two of this serieswill get underway at 7:05 pm ET with David Phelps (3-3, 4.65 ERA) facing off against Scott Kazmir (3-2, 5.13 ERA) from Yankee Stadium.

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