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Rodriguez, Abreu help Yankees complete sweep of Pirates

Jun 10, 2007 - 10:33 PM BRONX, New York (Ticker) -- A number of factors have led to the current resurgence of the New York Yankees. The performances of Alex Rodriguez and Bobby Abreu might be two of the biggest.

Rodriguez hit a go-ahead three-run home run in the of the fourth inning and added a two-run shot in the sixth while Abreu went 4-for-4 as the Yankees completed a three-game sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates with a 13-6 victory Sunday.

The Yankees won their season-high sixth straight contest and have won nine of their last 10 games. That has put them on the verge of .500 (30-31) for the first time since May 9.

"It's good," Abreu said. "We need to just keep winning games and not worry about the other teams, just worry about us."

New York has scored 47 runs during this winning streak and at least five in every game. Leading the charge has been Rodriguez and Abreu, who both slumped during May when the Yankees lost 15 of 28 games.

"He's a good hitter," Yankees manager Joe Torre said of Abreu. "He's a .300 hitter. He still has a little ways to go to get to .300. But for me, I think it all comes from within. He wasn't relaxed and I think the fact that we weren't winning may have been tougher than him trying to break out of his slump."

Rodriguez hit .355 with 14 home runs during April but cooled off considerably in May, batting .235 with five homers and 11 RBI.

"Outstanding," Abreu said of Rodriguez. "So far you get on base you know Alex is going to do some doubles or (hit) some homers. It's a lot of fun."

In June, Rodriguez already has five home runs and 18 RBI, and his latest blasts put the Yankees ahead for good and gave them some breathing room for the late innings.

After rookie Tyler Clippard failed to protect a 5-2 lead, the Yankees put together three straight hits as Jeter and Abreu singled ahead of Rodriguez, knocking out former Yankee pitcher Shawn Chacon (2-1).

Josh Sharpless replaced Chacon, and Rodriguez deposited a 2-0 pitch into the left field seats to give New York an 8-6 lead.

On the first pitch of his next at-bat, Rodriguez homered to right field off 39-year-old Masumi Kuwata for a 10-6 advantage.

"I don't know what I hit," Rodriguez said. "I just saw the pitch and I hit. I've never seen him before."

It was Rodriguez's fourth multi-homer game of the season and 48th of his career. It also increased his major league-leading total to 24 and put him 12 shy of 500 for his career.

Before Rodriguez's latest blasts, Abreu sparked a three-run first and a two-run third. With one out in the first, he roped an RBI triple and scored on Hideki Matsui's two-run double. He led off the third with a single, stole second and scored on Melky Cabrera's RBI single.

Abreu recorded his second three-hit game of the season and first since May 4. He also extended his hitting streak to a season-best 10 games and is batting .500 (19-for-38) in June after hitting just .208 last month.

"I'm being a lot more patient at the plate," Abreu said. "I'm hitting the ball to the other way. I'm starting to hit better with runners in scoring position, I'm taking a lot of walks and seeing a lot of pitches. One of the things is that I'm able to get my rhythm back."

At the height of May slump, Abreu went a career-high 61 plate appearances with a walk and only drew eight walks in 116 plate appearances. Abreu walked once Sunday and now has 10 in 10 games this month.

"I always stay positive," Abreu said of his slump. "There's not negative energy on my mind. Even when I slump, I know everything wasn't right but in my mind I was (trying to forget it). For me, the key to success is to stay positive."

"He saw over 40 pitches today, which is remarkable," Rodriguez said. "I've never seen that in my 13-year career, one guy in one game sees 40 pitches. It's a treat to hit behind him or in front of him."

The Yankees added three in the seventh off Jonah Bayliss, as Wil Nieves had an RBI single and Abreu had a two-run double.

Despite the big days by his third- and fourth-place hitter, Torre still had to sweat out a shaky outing by Clippard. In his fifth career start, Clippard twice failed to protect three-run leads.

"I knew we would (score more runs)," Clippard said. "We're playing good right now. We're swinging the bats unbelievable. We were down what 6-5 and one run right now for us you almost feel like you're ahead. I wasn't worried about it. I was just frustrated that I couldn't contribute more but I knew we were going to be fine."

After the Yankees opened a 3-0 lead, he gave up a two-run single to Jose Castillo in the second. The Yankees went ahead, 5-2, in the third, but Clippard allowed a two-run double to Chris Duffy and a two-run single to Jose Bautista.

The 22-year-old righthander lasted a season-low 3 2/3 innings and allowed six runs and six hits.

Sean Henn (2-0) worked two innings for the win but also had some anxious moments in the fifth, as he walked Xavier Nady to load the bases. But he struck out Ryan Doumit and retired Castillo on a groundout to second.

Luis Vizcaino recorded the final out of the sixth after Henn plunked Nate McLouth. Scott Proctor worked two innings and Mike Myers finished up for the Yankees, who swept their second series of the season and first at Yankee Stadium.

The Pirates have lost four of their last five games and are a season-worst 11 games under .500. They have dropped all six games they have played against the Yankees.

"Obviously they beat the ball around today and they did it all day long," Pittsburgh manager Jim Tracy said. "We just could not stop them offensively. There was really nothing that we did wrong, we just could not stop their offense."

Chacon, who was acquired from the Yankees at the July 31 deadline in 2005, made his fourth start and was ripped for seven runs and eight hits in 3 1/3 innings.

"I wasn't anywhere near where I wanted to be as far as command of the zone," Chacon said.