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Rasner sharp as Yankees cruise past Tigers

May 11, 2008 - 12:45 AM DETROIT (Ticker) -- Darrell Rasner may have made a permanent place for himself in the New York Yankees' rotation.

Rasner pitched six-plus excellent innings as the Yankees posted a 5-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Saturday.

Derek Jeter homered and the visitors scored three more on three RBI doubles as New York snapped a six-game losing streak to Detroit.

"You don't like to keep losing to the same team over and over," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "They've hit the ball well against us, but (Rasner) did a nice job today."

The 27-year-old Rasner (2-0) yielded two runs, four hits and a walk for his second win in as many starts since being called up from Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre last Sunday.

"I didn't try to do anything different today," Rasner said. "I wanted to throw first-pitch strikes and make the hitters be defensive. Today, I made an effort to keep it simple and not out-think myself."

The righthander, who struck out one, was promoted to the majors after Phil Hughes was placed on the disabled list with a broken rib.

"He didn't change his style," Girardi said. "He did say, 'OK, I'm at a higher level, so I have to do things differently.'"

Rasner's performance could have him embedded as a starter for Girardi's club. Besides Hughes, Ian Kennedy, who also began 2008 in the Yankees' rotation, was sent to the minors.

"If you continue to pitch well, you will stay in the rotation," said Girardi, who seemed impressed by the outing. "Darrell knows that. He is figuring out how to use this opportunity."

On Friday, emergency starter Kei Igawa was shelled for six runs and 11 hits in just three-plus frames in New York's 6-5 loss to Detroit.

"This is a great opportunity," Rasner added. "I love playing under the radar. It works for me, for my personality.

"I know my limitations. I'm not going to throw 95 miles per hour. I'm not going to strike a lot of guys out. That's not my style."

The Yankees' offense gave Rasner a quick lead in the first inning when, with one out, Jeter belted a solo shot over the right-field fence. It was Jeter's first homer of the season (129 at-bats) and he was razzed about it from his teammates as he rounded the bases.

"Derek heard from some of the guys (on the bench)," Girardi said. "I just put up one (finger)."

"I wanted to get at least one this year," Jeter kidded. "I sort of hit home runs by accident."

The Yankees' captain was also impressed by Rasner.

"He pitched well today," Jeter said. "He knows what he's doing out there and keeps the hitters off balance. That's a tough lineup he pitched to today. I wouldn't want to have to pitch against them."

Later in the frame, Detroit starter Jeremy Bonderman walked Melky Cabrera with the bases loaded to give New York a 2-0 lead.

After Rasner served up a solo homer to rookie Matthew Joyce in the bottom of the first, the Yankees tacked on a run in the fourth on Wilson Betemit's RBI double before Bobby Abreu and Jason Giambi added run-scoring doubles in the fifth to make it 5-1.

Meanwhile, Rasner was cruising, only giving up a single to Ivan Rodriguez in the third and a two-out base hit to Joyce in the sixth.

After he surrendered a leadoff walk to Magglio Ordonez in the bottom of the seventh, Girardi took him out in favor of Kyle Farnsworth. The righthander allowed two straight hits, including an RBI double to Gary Sheffield, before retiring three consecutive Tigers to get out of the seventh without any further damage.

Joba Chamberlain pitched a scoreless eighth inning before Mariano Rivera came on and worked around a leadoff single by Ordonez in the ninth to record his 10th save of the season.

"You have to score early on New York because, if you don't and get to Chamberlain and Rivera, it just isn't going to happen," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said.

Bonderman (2-4) allowed five runs, six hits and four walks while striking out three in four-plus innings - his shortest start in seven outings this campaign.

"The bad part about Jeremy was that he didn't have his command," Leyland said. "He couldn't locate any of his pitches and flirted with success and danger all day. He wasn't getting the ball close to were he wanted to throw it. This is a tough lineup for a righthanded pitcher and he was missing the target by a lot."

Joyce's homer was the first of his career for Detroit, which is 0-19 when scoring four runs or fewer.