• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Jeter leads Yankees over Pirates

Jun 9, 2007 - 5:56 AM BRONX, New York (Ticker) -- With the season debut of Roger Clemens looming, Derek Jeter made sure the New York Yankees did not lose any momentum.

Jeter's bases-loaded infield single in the bottom of the 10th inning extended New York's winning streak to a season-high four games with a 5-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Yankees have won seven of their last nine games overall and will add another weapon to their arsenal on Saturday, when Clemens takes the mound for the first time since signing a one-year, $28 million-deal on May 6.

"We're excited, obviously," said Yankees starter Andy Pettitte - a close friend of Clemens. "It's a good time for him to be coming back. We feel a lot better about ourselves and I'm looking forward to him getting in this rotation and getting in the shape he needs to be in for us to get rolling and keep this going."

New York set the stage for Clemens with a dramatic victory in this one led by Jeter, who had an RBI single in the seventh inning as the Yankees rallied from a two-run deficit and delivered the decisive hit in the 10th.

"You don't always want to fall behind, but when we do, we feel like we can come back," Jeter said.

Robinson Cano led off the bottom of the 10th with a double off reliever Matt Capps (3-3) and advanced to third on a sacrifice by Melky Cabrera. Cano was held at third on Miguel Cairo's infield single on a slow chopper to third baseman Jose Bautista.

After Cairo advanced to second on defensive indifference, Johnny Damon was intentionally walked and Jeter followed with a slow chopper to the right of the pitcher's mound that charging second baseman Freddy Sanchez could not barehand.

Mariano Rivera (2-3) earned the victory after pitching a season-high two scoreless innings of relief for New York.

The Yankees' rally bailed out center fielder Cabrera, who misplayed a potential inning-ending line drive from Chris Duffy into a two-run inside-the-park homer run in the seventh.

Cabrera ran in too far on the hard liner and the ball sailed over his head and rolled to the wall. The speedy Duffy circled the bases and scored without a throw home for Pittsburgh's first inside-the-park homer since July 2, 2004, when Jack Wilson had one against Milwaukee.

"The ball had to be at least 95 miles an hour and it was knuckling, so you have no idea what it's going to do," said Damon, who was the designated hitter. "I feel for him, I've seen plenty of them."

The miscue nearly spoiled a strong outing from Pettitte, who allowed four runs and nine hits while striking out five in a season-high eight innings.

"I felt like if I could keep them close, we've been playing a lot better," Pettitte said. "I'm proud of the guys, it was a great effort and it's just another good win to keep it going. Guys are getting more confidence and you can see it, it shows."

The Pirates stuck with starter Tom Gorzellany in the bottom of the seventh, despite the lefthander having thrown 104 pitches. It proved to be a mistake when Cairo hit a leadoff double and scored on Jeter's one-out line drive to left-center field to bring New York within 4-3.

"I just hung a slider there (to Cairo) and Jeter had a good at-bat against me and I got behind and gave him a pitch to hit and being a good hitter, he's going to be able to do stuff like that," Gorzelanny said.

Reliever John Grabow entered and surrendered a single to Bobby Abreu and former closer Salomon Torres hit Alex Rodriguez with his first pitch to load the bases before Jorge Posada hit a line drive to right field to forge a 4-4 tie.

Damaso Marte came on and escaped the jam, striking out Hideki Matsui and getting Robinson Cano to fly out to center field to end the inning and the game remained tied until the 10th.

Pettitte was outdueled by Gorzelanny early, allowing a leadoff homer to Xavier Nady in the second inning. But Pettitte needed just six pitches to get through the third inning and seven in the fourth. He surrendered three consecutive singles in the fifth and the Pirates took a 2-0 lead on Jack Wilson's blooper into left field.

Gorzelanny allowed just two runners past first base in the first 5 1/3 innings. But Posada singled up the middle and Matsui deposited the next pitch over the right field wall for his sixth homer to forge a 2-2 tie.

"It was a tough pitch, it was just one of those pitches that he likes to hit," Gorzelanny said.

Pettitte had retired six of seven batters when Ronny Paulino singled with one out in the seventh and the Pirates reclaimed the lead on Duffy's misplayed liner two batters later.