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Mussina cruises as Yanks sweep Twins

Jul 23, 2008 - 9:52 PM By Larry Fleisher PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

BRONX, New York (Ticker) -- After another display of effective starting pitching and timely hitting, the New York Yankees will head to Fenway Park with plenty of momentum.

Mike Mussina scattered six hits over eight scoreless innings as the Yankees stretched their home winning streak to 10 games with a 5-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday afternoon.

New York, which has pulled within 3 1/2 games of first place in the American League East Division, begins a three-game series at Boston on Friday.

"We knew coming out of the break we had to play well," Mussina said. "We were quite a ways back and we were at home playing teams with us wild-card wise. So it was big to come out and play well."

"(Yankee Stadium) is a tough place to play up there," Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez added. "It's always good to go (to Boston) with a little momentum. It always starts with starting pitching, good defense and timely hitting. We're doing all three."

Mussina (13-6) lowered his ERA to 3.26 and tied Arizona's Brandon Webb and Cleveland's Cliff Lee for the major league lead in wins. In his last four starts, Mussina has a 1.03 ERA, allowing three runs in 26 innings.

"(Mussina) pitched awesome, hitting his spots," catcher Jose Molina said. "It was great, that's the only way to describe it. He's been pitching good all year long."

Rookie Justin Christian and Rodriguez backed Mussina with two-run doubles Wednesday. Richie Sexson contributed a sacrifice fly and played solid defense at first base for the Yankees (56-45), who moved a season-high 11 games over .500 and have won six in a row since the All-Star break. In each of those games, New York's starters have allowed three runs or less.

"We're playing very well in these first six games after the break," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "We've had outstanding pitching the whole way through, and that's what gives a chance to win every day."

Mussina began New York's best start following the break since 1984 by allowing one run in six innings Friday against Oakland. The veteran righthander was even sharper in this one, as he improved to 22-6 lifetime against the Twins.

"Today was probably a good day," Mussina said. "I didn't feel like I could throw a thousand miles per hour, but I felt I had good stuff. If I could do that, I'll take that every time."

In his latest win over Minnesota, Mussina struck out seven and did not issue a walk for the third consecutive start and ninth time this season. He threw 73 of 105 pitches for strikes and ended his outing by fanning rookie Denard Span on a slow curveball.

LaTroy Hawkins allowed an RBI single to Mike Lamb in the ninth, but Mariano Rivera needed to get only one out for his 25th save.

Minnesota's Glen Perkins (7-3) matched Mussina for four innings before allowing all five runs over six frames.

The Twins have lost four in a row for the first time since early June and went 3-19 in their final 22 games at Yankee Stadium after getting outscored, 25-7, in this series.

"It was a disappointing ballgame," Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire said. "I don't know how to describe it. Our trip here was not very good. We played terrible baseball pretty much all the way through it."

New York grabbed the lead in the fifth after Minnesota second baseman Alexi Casilla failed to complete a double play on Molina's grounder, thinking there were three outs. An embarrassed Casilla started to run off the field.

"He's made enough good plays for our team," Perkins said. "Let's move on. I'm sure he'll learn from it. I think he'll pay close attention to that."

The gaffe hurt the Twins, as Christian chopped a two-run double inside the left-field line. When the ball rolled around in the corner, the slow-footed Molina was able to score from first.

"That's huge," Christian said. "This team definitely takes advantage of mistakes. It's hard to get away with those."