Cano is Mightier than the Pen

The Yankees had the perfect ingredients for a win last night- good starting pitching and a lively offense. Then the bullpen took over and suddenly a sure Yankees win was a 7-7 tie with the Rays entering the 8th inning. That's when a slumping Robinson Cano came off the bench to save the day.

Cano, mired in a season long slump, drilled an Al Reyes fastball into the right field seats for his first home run of the season and an 8-7 Yankees lead. Brian Bruney, who had allowed a pair of home runs, and Mariano Rivera then retired the final six Rays hitters to seal the victory.

Ian Kennedy, who was hammered by the Rays back on April 4, was cruising along with a 7-2 lead entering the 7th inning. But leading off the inning, shortstop Jason Bartlett drilled a line drive off of Kennedy's hip for an infield single. Joe Girardi and trainer Gene Monahan went out to the mound and removed the obviously aching rookie right-hander.

Lefty specialist Billy Traber failed for the first time this season. After retiring Aki Iwamura, Traber allowed a 2-run home run to Carl Crawford and then hit Carlos Pena. Girardi sent for Bruney, who had been nothing short of magnificent this season. But B.J. Upton jumped on a Bruney delivery for a 2-run home run to cut the lead to one, and then rookie Evan Longoria tied the game with his first major league home run.

The Yankees looked like they were going to make it an easy night when they jumped on Rays starter Andy Sonnanstine in the 1st inning. Johnny Damon lead off the ball with his first home run of the season and two batters later Alex Rodriguez connected for a monstrous home run for a quick 2-o lead.

A-Rod made more history with his third home run of the season. He tied Ted Williams and Willie McCovey for 15th place on the all-time home run list with 521, and passed Bobby Murcer for 19th on the all-time time Yankees list with his 176th long ball since the beginning of the 2004 season. The 3rd Baseman had gone 2-13 with no RBI in Boston, but bounced back with a 4-5 night.

Morgan Ensberg made it a 3-0 game in the 2nd with his first home run of the year and then the Yankees seemingly broke the game open with a 4-run 4th inning. Damon doubled home two runs to more than double his season RBI total (5), and Derek Jeter, back in the lineup for the first time in a week, single in two more for a 7-1 Yankees lead.

Thankfully for the Yankees they still had one more run left in them.

News and Notes

Joba Chamberlain released a statement to the press saying that his father's condition was still critical, but he had stabilized.

Derek Jeter ran smoothly last night after sitting out a week with a quad strain. His bat looked good too as he had a couple of hits.

Melky Cabrera has been overlooked in the Yankees 7-7 start. With 2 hits last night, he's batting .306 and has reached base safely in 9 of the 10 games he has played.this season. He also stole his first base last night.

Rookie phenom Evan Longoria is 4-9 in his first three games in the majors.

NY Yankees	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Damon, LF	5	2	2	3	0	1	0	.213
Jeter, SS	5	0	2	2	0	0	0	.241
Abreu, RF	5	0	1	0	0	0	2	.294
Rodriguez, 3B	5	1	4	1	0	0	2	.309
Matsui, DH	5	0	0	0	0	0	5	.304
Ensberg, 1B	5	1	2	1	0	2	0	.385
Cabrera, CF	5	1	2	0	0	0	1	.306
Moeller, C	4	1	1	0	0	2	1	.250
Gonzalez, 2B	2	1	0	0	1	0	1	.333
a-Cano, PH-2B	1	1	1	1	0	0	0	.185
Totals	42	8	15	8	1	5	12
a-Homered for Gonzalez in the 8th.
BATTING 2B: Damon (3, Sonnanstine). HR: Damon (1, 1st inning off Sonnanstine, 0 on, 0 out), Rodriguez (3, 1st inning off Sonnanstine, 0 on, 2 out), Ensberg (1, 2nd inning off Sonnanstine, 0 on, 0 out), Cano (1, 8th inning off Reyes, 0 on, 1 out). TB: Damon 6; Jeter 2; Abreu; Rodriguez 7; Ensberg 5; Cabrera 2; Moeller; Cano 4. RBI: Damon 3 (5), Rodriguez (8), Ensberg (1), Jeter 2 (3), Cano (3). 2-out RBI: Rodriguez. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Matsui 2; Gonzalez; Rodriguez. GIDP: Matsui. Team LOB: 8. BASERUNNING SB: Cabrera (1, 2nd base off Dohmann/Riggans).

NY Yankees	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Kennedy	6.0	8	3	3	2	4	0	8.74
Traber	0.1	1	2	2	0	0	1	4.91
Bruney (BS, 1)(W, 1-0)	1.1	2	2	2	0	1	2	2.16
Rivera (S, 4)	1.1	0	0	0	0	2	0	0.00

Tampa Bay	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Iwamura, 2B	4	0	0	0	1	0	1	.235
Crawford, LF	4	1	2	3	0	1	0	.228
Pena, 1B	4	1	0	0	0	1	2	.191
Upton, CF	5	1	2	2	0	1	0	.313
Longoria, 3B	3	2	2	1	1	0	0	.444
Hinske, DH	4	0	2	1	0	0	1	.323
Riggans, C	4	0	1	0	0	1	2	.200
Haynes, RF	4	1	1	0	0	2	3	.231
Bartlett, SS	4	1	1	0	0	1	1	.167
Totals	36	7	11	7	2	7	10
BATTING 2B: Longoria (1, Kennedy), Hinske (4, Kennedy). HR: Crawford (1, 7th inning off Traber, 1 on, 1 out), Upton (2, 7th inning off Bruney, 1 on, 1 out), Longoria (1, 7th inning off Bruney, 0 on, 1 out). TB: Crawford 5; Upton 5; Longoria 6; Hinske 3; Riggans; Haynes; Bartlett. RBI: Crawford 3 (7), Hinske (5), Upton 2 (13), Longoria (2). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Haynes 2. SF: Crawford. Team LOB: 6. BASERUNNING SB: Upton (4, 2nd base off Kennedy/Moeller), Haynes (4, 2nd base off Kennedy/Moeller). CS: Upton (2, 3rd base by Kennedy/Moeller). FIELDING E: Longoria (1, fielding). DP: (Iwamura-Bartlett-Pena).

Tampa Bay	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Sonnanstine	3.1	9	7	7	1	2	3	8.80
Dohmann	3.2	4	0	0	0	0	0	3.68
Reyes (L, 1-2)	0.2	2	1	1	0	2	1	9.00
Glover	1.1	0	0	0	0	1	0	3.38

Kennedy pitched to 1 batter in the 7th.

HBP: Pena (by Traber).
Pitches-strikes: Kennedy 94-60, Traber 11-6, Bruney 20-16, Rivera 14-10, Sonnanstine 62-45, Dohmann 47-30, Reyes 26-16, Glover 12-9.
Ground outs-fly outs: Kennedy 6-7, Traber 0-1, Bruney 2-1, Rivera 1-1, Sonnanstine 6-2, Dohmann 7-4, Reyes 0-0, Glover 2-1.
Batters faced: Kennedy 27, Traber 3, Bruney 6, Rivera 4, Sonnanstine 20, Dohmann 14, Reyes 5, Glover 4.
Inherited runners-scored: Traber 1-1, Bruney 1-1, Dohmann 1-0, Glover 2-0.
Umpires: HP: Brian Runge. 1B: Charlie Reliford. 2B: Greg Gibson. 3B: Chris Guccione.
Weather: 72 degrees, dome.
Wind: Indoors.
T: 3:05.
Att: 18,872.