• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Rasner sharp as Yankees top Twins, win fifth straight

Jul 23, 2008 - 4:13 AM BRONX, New York (Ticker) -- Robinson Cano steadily has improved since a difficult first month. Only now, the results are starting to affect the win column for the New York Yankees.

Cano drove in two runs while Bobby Abreu homered and had three RBI as the Yankees stretched their home winning streak to nine games with a 8-2 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night.

Derek Jeter added a two-run double for the Yankees, who are a season-high 10 games over .500 and have won five in a row since taking a 50-45 mark into the All-Star break.

Abreu and Jason Giambi added RBI singles for New York, which is on its longest home winning streak since May 7-27, 2005.

The Twins mustered just four hits and lost their third in a row and for just the 10th time in 33 games since June 13. They also lost for the 18th time in their last 21 visits to New York dating to the 2002 season.

While virtually everyone has made some kind of contribution, the improvement from Cano has been noticeable even if he has a track record of doing it before. A career .339 hitter after the break, Cano began this season with a .151 mark but hit slightly below .300 in the next two months before taking off in July and especially in the last week.

"It obviously makes us much stronger as a club because he's not just a good hitter," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "He's a run-producer as well. He gets big hits in big situations. He hits lefthanders. He's not a guy that only hits righthanders. When this kid is right, he hits everybody."

"It's good," Abreu added. "Everybody knows he can hit. He was struggling a little in the first half. Things are going well so far for him now."

Cano has been red-hot in those games and is batting a scorching .545 (12-for-23) with seven RBI since spending his break in the Dominican Republic. He has returned with five straight multi-hit games, and the Yankees have won all of them.

"I feel I'm staying behind the ball and not reaching or jumping like I was in the first half," Cano said. "I was reaching for everything and now I'm staying behind the ball."

In this one, Cano sandwiched RBI singles around Abreu's 11th home run, and that was enough for New York's latest win.

The latest productive night from Cano pushed the second baseman's batting average to .263, which is the highest it has been since Opening Day.

Cano's first hit put New York ahead 1-0 in the second inning, and that lead lasted until the sixth when the Twins scratched across two runs and briefly took the lead on rookie Denard Span's RBI single and Jason Kubel's run-scoring groundout.

The Yankees quickly answered back and did so when Abreu launched a 1-1 pitch into the right-field seats for his 11th home run and a 3-2 lead. Cano added an RBI single off Denys Reyes that scored Alex Rodriguez, who also singled and stole second.

New York added three more in the seventh as rookie Brett Gardner walked and Johnny Damon reached on an error by third baseman Brian Buscher. Jeter, who had flied out in his three previous at-bats, lined a two-run single to left and came home on Abreu's double to right.

Darrell Rasner did not stick around long enough to get the win but pitched well, allowing two runs and four hits in 5 2/3 innings. It was the first time in 16 starts since April 19, 2007 that he did not get a decision but his start also marked the 12th time in the last 13 games that a New York starter allowed three runs or less.

"I was working on shortening it up like I did in Toronto," Rasner said. "I didn't want to overcomplicate things. I wanted to get that changeup working, which I was able to a few times tonight."

Rasner started out strong, holding the Twins hitless for 16 straight batters after Span led off the game with a base hit. The streak ended when Carlos Gomez doubled.

David Robertson (2-0) retired Delmon Young on a groundout to Cano for the final out of the sixth. Jose Veras tossed a perfect seventh and, given a six-run lead to protect, Kyle

Farnsworth and Dan Giese finished out the game.

A night after getting just 1 2/3 innings from Nick Blackburn, Kevin Slowey (6-7) allowed four runs and five hits in 5 1/3 innings. He had a personal four-game winning streak stopped as he lost for the first time since June 8.

"He was going along fine," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "Three earned runs in six innings is not bad, and it's not like we got blown out tonight. He is pitching good games for us and is giving us an opportunity to win. We just need to capitalize in certain situations."