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Pettitte stifles Rays as Yankees roll

Jul 9, 2008 - 3:35 AM By Larry Fleisher PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

BRONX, New York (Ticker) -- Six days ago, Andy Pettitte was embarrassed with his performance. On Tuesday, he had nothing to be ashamed about.

Pettitte tossed eight superb innings and Derek Jeter drove in a pair of runs as the New York Yankees posted their third straight victory, a 5-0 triumph over the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday.

Melky Cabrera highlighted a three-run eighth inning with his eighth home run of the season for New York, which raised its record against Tampa Bay this season to 6-5.

Jeter lined a two-run double to right field in the third inning and made a nice defensive play in the hole between shortstop and third base to end the seventh. Pettitte made Jeter's double stand, as he scattered four hits and did not allow a run for the fourth time this season.

Pettitte (10-6) yielded just three singles and a double en route to his seventh win in eight decisions. The veteran lefthander, who improved to 15-4 lifetime against the Rays, struck out five without a walk - marking the fourth time this season he has not issued a free pass.

"I got in a real good rhythm," Pettitte said. "(Catcher Jose Molina) called a great game. It was a good game for us."

"He was outstanding with his location," Yankees manager Joe Girardi added. "He got in a rhythm right away. You saw it in the first inning. He had a great rhythm and and got some quick outs on the first two hitters. It was just an outstanding performance."

Two previous instances in which Pettitte did not allow a run this season occurred during a personal six-game winning streak that saw him blank San Diego and Cincinnati for a combined 13 innings. Pettitte had that run halted with a sub-par performance against Boston on Thursday, when he allowed six runs and nine hits in 4 2/3 innings of a 7-0 loss.

That was Pettitte's second-shortest outing of the campaign, and one after which he expressed his embarrassment.

Pettitte turned things around in this one, surrendering just a ground-rule double by Upton and an infield single by Carlos Pena over the first six innings. He did not encounter any significant trouble until the seventh, when Upton led off with a single and stole second before advancing to third on Dioner Navarro's two-out infield hit.

"He was just hitting all his spots tonight," Tampa Bay's Carl Crawford said. "He did a good job of spotting up the ball tonight."

"He was very good from the very beginning," Rays manager Joe Maddon added. "His cutter or slider was very good. He was very good."

Upton was stranded when Willy Aybar hit a grounder to Jeter, who backhanded the ball before jumping and throwing to Robinson Cano for the forceout at second.

"It's a great play, and we all know he makes that play as well as anyone," Girardi said. "And to make a very good throw to Robby Cano, and he's there waiting for it, it's a huge out.

"People always talk about, you have to pitch in order to win, but we also have to play good defense. We were able to play good defense. Robby made a couple of good plays, Melky made some good plays. You can pitch all you want, but you also have to play great defense behind (the pitcher)."

The Yankees did not generate much off Tampa Bay's Scott Kazmir but did work his pitch count. The All-Star lefthander, who lost for the third time in four decisions, allowed two runs and five hits in five innings, walking one and striking out nine while throwing 97 pitches.

"Our guys were struggling a little bit early, but they were seeing pitches," Girardi said. "Even though we weren't necessarily getting a lot of hits, they were seeing some pitches off him. That's the thing - if you can get his pitch count up and see some pitches, the second time through (you) usually have better at-bats."

Kazmir struck out five of the first six hitters he faced before the Yankees put together their rally in the third.

Cano led off with a single to left and went to third on Molina's double to the wall in right-center field. Following consecutive strikeouts of rookie Brett Gardner and Cabrera, Jeter lined a 2-0 pitch to right, plating both runners.

"I just left up a changeup," Kazmir said. "I kind of wanted to get it low. If not, I wanted to throw it in the dirt and maybe make him chase it."

Upton recorded two of the four hits by Tampa Bay, which has lost two straight following a seven-game winning streak. The Rays have dropped consecutive games for the first time since June 10-11.