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Pettitte, Rodriguez help Yankees avoid sweep

Apr 11, 2008 - 5:33 AM By Marc Bowman PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) - Andy Pettitte played his accustomed role of stopper and Alex Rodriguez homered as the New York Yankees avoided a sweep with a 6-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Thursday.

Pettitte, who has a career record of 71-34 when starting after a Yankees' defeat, allowed just one run and five hits in 6 2/3 innings.

The lefthander got more than enough support as Melky Cabrera and Jorge Posada each hit solo homers.

"It's great to see the guys hit and to score a bunch of runs," Pettitte said. "It's good to get your hitters feeling confident. You always want to stop losing streaks. It's always good to win and not get swept, obviously."

"Andy knows how to win big games," New York manager Joe Girardi said. "I don't know if I would call this a big game, but you don't want to be swept at the start of an eight-game road trip. It's always better to have a win when you're going someplace."

The game was briefly delayed by rain in the fourth inning, but Pettitte was unaffected, as he returned following a 22-minute delay.

"When the rain delay happened I got worried, but I was able to go back out there and I just got into a rhythm," Pettitte said. "I hadn't felt real good, and I didn't have much the first two innings, but (catcher) Jose (Molina) did a good job and I was lucky to get through it."

Pettitte's only mistake came in the first when he allowed a two-out, RBI double to Guillen.

"I was able to cut the ball and miss some barrels," Pettitte said. "I was fortunate to get away with a few, they missed a few. Midway through the third inning I got in a good rhythm and I was able to locate my fastball a little better."

"He was good," Royals manager Trey Hillman said. "He was very upset with the two-out hit by Teahen (which led to Kansas City's lone run) and he didn't make any mistakes after that."

Cabrera hit his second homer of the season - a two-out solo shot to left center - to tie the score at 1-1 in the third.

Posada returned to the New York lineup after missing Wednesday's game with a strained right shoulder, and served as the designated hitter. He scored the go-ahead run in the fourth inning when Molina grounded into a double play.

The Yankees added a pair of insurance runs in the fifth inning as Cabrera singled home a run, and Rodriguez added an RBI ground out.

Rodriguez and Posada then capped the scoring with back-to-back homers in the ninth. It was Rodriguez's second of the season and Posada's first.

Royals starter John Bale (0-2) allowed four runs and eight hits in six innings. The lefthander struck out three and walked one.

"John made a few mistakes, but he hasn't had a lot of run support," Hillman said. "He hasn't had an opportunity to get a win."

The loss snapped the Royals' three-game winning streak. Kansas City was vying for its first sweep of the Yankees since May 31-June 2, 2005.

Meanwhile, the Yankees were glad to head into Friday's game against the arch-rival Boston Red Sox.

"The only thing in our minds was getting a win, somehow, some way," Rodriguez said. "And Andy was the perfect guy for us. The most important thing is we desperately needed a win today. It's good to sneak one out here and go into Boston with some momentum."