• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Upton, Navarro lead Devil Rays to rout of Yankees

Jul 21, 2007 - 4:45 AM BRONX, New York (Ticker) -- Mike Mussina came in with dominating numbers against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, and Edwin Jackson's opponents entered with dominating numbers against him. With the aid of two swings, that all changed Friday night at Yankee Stadium.

Jackson scattered four hits over six innings and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays got two home runs from B.J. Upton and a grand slam from Dioner Navarro in a 14-4 rout of the New York Yankees.

Mussina had been 7-0 with a 1.20 ERA in his last seven starts against the Devil Rays at home. Conversely, Jackson took a 7.14 ERA into the opener of the four-game series and had not won a road game in over three years.

The Yankees were hoping both trends would continue, especially since they are starting Kei Igawa and Matt DeSalvo in Saturday's day-night doubleheader.

But it was apparent it would not be their night when Mussina (4-7) gave up four runs during a 46-pitch third inning. He already had allowed two runs when Upton stepped in for his second at-bat.

"I created my own problem, and they took advantage of it," Mussina said. "That inning took off and we never really recovered."

Mussina's first pitch to Upton was a fastball that landed in the upper deck in left field and gave the Devil Rays a 4-0 lead. The damage could have been worse as Mussina walked three of the next four hitters, but Greg Norton swung at the first pitch he saw and grounded out to second.

"Probably the farthest (I've hit one)," Upton said. "I just put a good swing on it and it went."

Jackson (2-9) ensured the four runs would stand up as he escaped a one-out jam in the fourth. With runners on first and second, he retired Andy Phillips on a lineout and nearly gave up a three-run home run to Shelly Duncan before striking out the rookie.

The Devil Rays rewarded Jackson's ability to escape trouble with a five-run fifth inning. Mussina gave up a two-strike RBI double to Brendan Harris and was booed off the mound by the sellout crowd of 53,957.

The fans would have plenty more to complain about when Edwar Ramirez's outing was over. Ramirez did not retire any of the five batters he faced, throwing just two of his 19 pitches for strikes.

One of those strikes came on an 0-1 pitch to Navarro, which landed beyond the right field wall for a grand slam that extended the lead to 9-0.

"It feels good, first career grand slam, and the most important thing is getting the W," said Navarro, a former Yankees prospect. "Jackson has been pitching great lately and hasn't been getting any luck. Overall, everybody did what they were supposed to do."

"Once (they hit) the the grand slam, we were pretty much out of it," Mussina said.

That was plenty for Jackson, who had coughed up a 3-0 lead to the Yankees five days earlier. Jackson walked four - none after the second inning - and allowed just three baserunners over the remainder of this outing.

"It's a tough lineup, and you have to challenge them and get outs instead of a base hits," Jackson said.

The 23-year-old righthander threw 98 pitches in recording his first road win since September 27, 2003 at San Francisco, a span of 14 starts and 26 appearances.

"Tonight, after walking the first guy, he's not speeding up," Devil Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "He's not losing his composure. He's maintaining some mound presence and he's continuing to make pitches."

Mussina fell to 0-4 in games caught by Jorge Posada as he lasted just 4 2/3 innings. In his shortest start in over three months, the veteran was tagged for six runs and seven hits.

The Yankees did not score until the seventh, when Scott Dohmann served up a solo home run to Phillips to open the inning.

With numerous starters out of the game, each team scored three times in the eighth. An inning later, Upton belted his 11th home run of the season for the first multi-homer game of his career.

Summoned from Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre earlier in the day, Duncan picked up his first major league hit with an RBI single in the eighth.