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DeSalvo earns first major league win as Yankees pound Mariners

May 13, 2007 - 6:40 AM SEATTLE (Ticker) -- The New York Yankees got a strong start from a rookie and recovered from a brief offensive funk to pound the Seattle Mariners.

Matt DeSalvo earned his first major league win with 6 2/3 strong innings and the Yankees pounded Mariners starter Miguel Batista en route to a 7-2 victory.

Derek Jeter, Hideki Matsui and Jorge Posada had three hits apiece for New York, which entered the game having scored just two runs in their previous 22 innings.

DeSalvo (1-0), who was making just his second start, yielded two runs and seven hits, walking three and striking out two.

"It's incredible. I've waited 26 years for this," DeSalvo said. "I'm just going to go home, put on a smile and sit and enjoy my night."

The 26-year-old righthander made his first start against Seattle, taking a no-decision despite yielding just one run and three hits in seven innings last Monday.

"He was great," Yankees manager Joe Torre said of DeSalvo's winning performance. "He threw a lot of strikes. I thought he did a terrific job. I felt he'd be a little bit better today, a little more comfortable, after getting that first start out of the way."

The Yankees broke the game open with a big second inning against Batista (3-3). Jason Giambi drew a leadoff walk and moved to third on Matsui's double into the gap in left. Posada followed with a single, plating Giambi and sending Matsui to third.

Light-hitting first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz gave New york its third hit in a row, lifting a single to right that chased Matsui home with the second run.

Robinson Cano made the first out of the inning with a lineout to right, but Posada tagged and moved to third on the play, putting runners at the corners with the top of the lineup coming to the plate.

Johnny Damon kept the pressure on Batista with a double to left-center which scored Posada. Bobby Abreu followed with a single to right to drive in the fourth run of the inning and Jeter completed the scoring with an RBI single to right.

"It just seemed like everything was clicking for us," Damon said. "That's the way our offense could roll. We settled in and they figured out how to pitch to us the rest of the game. But the second inning was huge. It was a glimpse of what this offense can do."

Batista was lifted with one out in the third after yielding three more hits and two runs. He allowed 10 hits and seven runs in just 2 1/3 innings, his shortest outing of the season. It was the veteran righthander's poorest effort since April 4, when he surrendered eight runs to Oakland.

"Everything was up and in the middle of the plate," Mariners manager Mike Hargrove said. "It was one of those nights where past the first inning, nothing that he threw was working for him."

Batista was asked if he thought he might be tipping his pitches.

"Most of them," Batista said. "There are very smart people in this game. This is a team where you have to make your pitches because that is a very good lineup from the beginning to the end. But they had a pretty good idea what was coming. It's nothing that can't be fixed."

The Mariners got a pair of runs back in the bottom of the third, when Raul Ibanez's triple plated two.

Three relievers combined to close the game out for the Yankees, who were shut out on Friday by Jarrod Washburn.

Perhaps the one positive note for the Mariners was the work of three relievers, who shut out the Yankees on three hits after the third inning.

Rookie lefthander Eric O'Flaherty, who replaced Batista, went a career-high 4 2/3 innings, allowing just one hit and lowering his ERA to 0.77.

"Our bullpen did a real good job tonight," Hargrove said. "We just couldn't ever get the big hit when we needed it."