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A-Rod, Nady bail out Rivera as Yankees snap four-game skid

Aug 13, 2008 - 6:23 AM By Brian Hall PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

MINNEAPOLIS (Ticker) -- Alex Rodriguez had seen enough of the unexpected. It was time for him to deliver as many of the New York Yankees faithful expect him.

Rodriguez snapped a tie with a solo homer in the 12th inning and Xavier Nady added a two-run shot as the Yankees snapped a four-game skid with a 9-6 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday.

Johnny Damon had three hits, including his 24th career leadoff homer for New York (64-56), which trails Boston (69-51) by 5 1/2 games in the wild card race. The Red Sox beat Texas on Tuesday, and the Yankees avoided falling farther behind thanks to Rodriguez.

With one out, the reigning American League MVP connected for his 27th homer, a 426-foot blast to center field off of reliever Matt Guerrier (6-6). Two batters later, Nady followed with his 19th of the season and sixth as a Yankee. He also had a two-run double in the fourth, giving him 17 RBI in 16 games since being acquired from Pittsburgh.

"I think we hit into five double plays today. (Mariano Rivera) gives up three runs, you see things when you're going through struggles like we are right now that you never really see before," Rodriguez said. "You really come to expect the unexpected. To that point, you know you just have to battle back."

The three-run 12th made a winner of Jose Veras (3-1), who struck out two in two perfect innings. Edwar Ramirez tossed a perfect 12th to earn his first save in three chances.

Before his homer, Rodriguez was 0-for-5 and 5-for-32 on the road trip. For his career, he is hitting .333 with 41 home runs against Minnesota - the most homers for Rodriguez against any team.

"I hit the ball good all night," Rodriguez said. "I liked the way I've been taking my pitches, what counts. I have been hitting a lot of rockets to third base. (Hitting coach) Kevin Long just said, really focus on hitting the ball up the middle and focus on hitting the ball in the air that way."

The blast bailed out closer Rivera, who blew his first save in 29 chances - the third-longest streak in history to open a season. He had converted 57 of his last 59 save opportunities dating to last season.

The Twins trailed, 6-3, before rallying in the eighth. Mark Redmond led off the frame with a double and pinch hitter Randy Ruiz chased Damaso Marte with a single. Rivera entered and Delmon Young greeted him by belting an 0-2 fastball over the right field wall for a game-tying, three-run homer.

"Delmon hitting the big three-run homer, that was pretty doggone exciting," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "It's just unfortunate that we couldn't come up with another run after that."

"I made a mistake, the ball caught too much of the plate," Rivera said. "Hopefully, it goes foul. It didn't go foul, we still have to battle."

Young's homer spoiled another great outing from Mike Mussina, who allowed three runs and eight hits in seven innings.

Yankees captain Derek Jeter had three hits, including an RBI single in the fifth inning, but was lifted in the ninth inning for a pinch runner. New York manager Joe Girardi said Jeter had a bruised in-step after fouling a ball off his left foot. The shortstop is expected to play in the finale of the three-game series on Wednesday.

Adam Everett drove in two runs for the Twins (66-53), who fell one-half game behind the Chicago White Sox (66-52) in the American League Central.

"Seems like every time we get in first, the next day we wind up losing and they win and they are back in first place," Everett said. "We have ran into some tough luck and some pretty good teams as well. We still have a lot of season left."