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Yankees take opener with Indians

Jul 8, 2014 - 5:51 AM Cleveland, OH (SportsNetwork.com) - Shane Greene was solid in his first major league start and he came out a winner as the New York Yankees held on to beat the Cleveland Indians 5-3 in the opener of a four-game set at Progressive Field.

Greene (1-0), making his second big league appearance, gave up two runs on four hits over six innings. The 25-year-old righty got promoted from Triple-A after the Yankees swapped scheduled starter Vidal Nuno for Arizona's Brandon McCarthy on Sunday.

"We knew he had talent, but he did an outstanding job," New York manager Joe Girardi said about Greene.

Brett Gardner, Brian McCann and Ichiro Suzuki all had three hits for New York, which has won four of its last five games on the heels of a season-worst five- game losing streak.

Nick Swisher and Yan Gomes homered for the Indians, who suffered their second loss in six games.

It was a third consecutive brief outing for Justin Masterson (4-6). The Cleveland right-hander was charged for five runs on six hits and walked three in two-plus innings.

"It looked like again command, fell behind and threw some pitches that got hit pretty hard," Indians manager Terry Francona said of Masterson.

He pitched only four innings at Arizona on June 24 before lasting three frames July 1 at Dodger Stadium.

The Indians, who fell behind 5-0, were held without a hit by Greene until Swisher homered to left-center field with two outs in the fifth.

Cleveland scratched out another run in the sixth. Chris Dickerson, acquired in a trade with Pittsburgh before the game, reached on a one-out base hit and advanced on a groundout before scoring on Asdrubal Cabrera's bloop single to left.

Greene later ended his outing by retiring Carlos Santana on a flyout to right with two men aboard.

Gomes opened the eighth with a drive to left off David Huff, but All-Star Dellin Betances recorded the final six outs to earn his first major league save.

Jason Kipnis did reach on an fielding error by New York second baseman Brian Roberts with one out in the eighth, but he was doubled up on a foul pop up to third after running on the pitch.

The Yankees supplied Greene early run support, scoring three runs in the second and two in the third.

McCann and Roberts began the second with back-to-back doubles to give New York a lead. Gardner later knocked in a run with a bases-loaded single and Derek Jeter followed with a walk to plate Kelly Johnson.

Mark Teixeira led off the third with a walk and McCann singled to chase Masterson. Teixeira moved up on a flyout and scored on Suzuki's infield single.

After committing a balk, Kyle Crockett hit Johnson to load the bases and McCann scored when the Indians couldn't complete an inning-ending double play.

Game Notes

The Yankees went 6-1 against the Indians in 2013 ... New York was 4-for-13 with runners in scoring position and stranded nine ... Masterson threw only 24 of his 54 pitches for strikes ... The Indians designated catcher George Kottaras for assignment to make room for Dickerson on the roster.