Pettitte, Giambi Prevent Sweep

The Yankees struggled against another rookie Cincinnati pitcher Sunday afternoon, but this time out Andy Pettitte out dueled the latest Cincinnati kid, Johnny Cueto. The result was a 4-1 Yankees win before a crowd of 54,234 in the finale of the six game homestand. The win enabled the Yankees to finish those six games 4-2 to remain 5 games (4 in the loss column) back of the Boston Red Sox in the AL East.

Pettitte was superb, scattering 4 hits over 6 innings for his 8th win of the season and the 172nd of his Yankees career. He ran into a bases loaded, one out jam in the 4th, but struck out left handed hitters, Joey Votto and Jay Bruce to keep the Reds off the board.

The Yankees weren't having any success against Cueto either, getting just 2 hits over the first 4 innings, before taking the lead in the 5th. Jason Giambi lead off with the first of his three hits and Jorge Posada followed with a double into the right field corner. Robinson Cano brought home the first run of the day with a deep fly to center. Cueto stranded Posada at 3rd by striking out Melky Cabrera and retiring Johnny Damon on a pop up.

The winds, and lightning and thunder started up in the top of the 6th and heavy rains began to fall as the Reds put two men on base. Jeff Keppinger lead off the inning with a single and one batter later Pettitte hit Brandon Phillips on the toe of his right foot. But light hitting Paul Janish tried to bunt his way on and popped right up to Posada for the 2nd out. Fighting off a torrential downpour, Pettitte struck out Votto once again to strand the pair.

After a 56 minute rain delay the Yankees broke the game open against the Reds bullpen. Derek Jeter lead off the bottom half of the 6th with a single against Gary Majewski and two batters later Hideki Matsui followed suit. Dusty Baker sent for lefty reliever Jeremy Affeldt to face Jason Giambi, but the move didn't pay off when Giambi delivered a 2-run double to left for a 3-0 lead. Posada, batting from the right side, doubled up the gap in righ-center for the Yankees final run.

After Edwar Ramirez tossed a scoreless 7th inning, Joe Girardi sent for Kyle Farnsworth, who made 2 mistakes. The first was giving up a 2-out home run to Ken Griffey Jr.. The second was trying to field Brandon Phillips comebacker. The ball ricocheted to Alex Rodriguez, who then compounded the problem with a throwing error to allow Phillips reach 2nd base. Farnsworth exited to have stitches between his fingers, so Mariano Rivera came in a four out save.

June 22, 2008

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Cincinnati	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0		1	8	0
NY Yankees	0	0	0	0	1	3	0	0	X		4	11	1

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Hopper, LF	5	0	0	0	0	1	3	.250
Keppinger, SS-3B-SS	4	0	1	0	0	0	0	.322
Griffey, DH	3	1	1	1	1	0	1	.249
Phillips, B, 2B	3	0	2	0	0	0	0	.271
Encarnacion, 3B	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.241
Janish, SS	1	0	0	0	1	0	2	.180
a-Valentin, PH-3B	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.222
Votto, 1B	4	0	2	0	0	2	5	.293
Bruce, RF	4	0	1	0	0	2	4	.300
Patterson, CF	4	0	0	0	0	0	2	.189
Ross, C	3	0	1	0	0	1	0	.233
b-Dunn, PH	1	0	0	0	0	1	2	.219
Totals	34	1	8	1	2	7	20
a-Grounded out for Janish in the 8th. b-Struck out for Ross in the 9th.
BATTING HR: Griffey (8, 8th inning off Farnsworth, 0 on, 2 out). TB: Keppinger; Griffey 4; Phillips, B 2; Votto 2; Bruce; Ross. RBI: Griffey (32). 2-out RBI: Griffey. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Bruce 2; Votto; Valentin; Hopper. Team LOB: 9. BASERUNNING CS: Ross (1, 2nd base by Pettitte/Posada). PO: Ross (1st base by Pettitte). FIELDING DP: 3 (Ross-Janish, Phillips, B-Janish, Votto-Keppinger-Votto).

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Cueto (L, 5-8)	5.0	4	1	1	0	7	0	5.01
Majewski	0.2	2	2	2	0	1	0	4.70
Affeldt	0.2	3	1	1	1	0	0	4.50
Lincoln	1.2	2	0	0	0	1	0	4.93

NY Yankees	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Damon, LF	4	0	0	0	0	1	2	.323
Jeter, SS	3	1	1	0	1	1	0	.279
Abreu, RF	4	0	2	0	0	1	3	.273
Rodriguez, 3B	4	0	1	0	0	1	3	.332
Matsui, DH	4	1	1	0	0	2	2	.323
Giambi, 1B	3	2	3	2	0	0	0	.271
1-Betemit, PR-1B	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.250
Posada, C	4	0	2	1	0	2	2	.311
Cano, 2B	2	0	0	1	0	0	2	.227
Cabrera, CF	3	0	1	0	0	1	1	.254
Totals	31	4	11	4	1	9	15
1-Ran for Giambi in the 8th.
BATTING 2B: Posada 2 (9, Cueto, Affeldt), Giambi (12, Affeldt). TB: Jeter; Abreu 2; Rodriguez; Matsui; Giambi 4; Posada 4; Cabrera. RBI: Cano (26), Giambi 2 (42), Posada (19). 2-out RBI: Giambi 2; Posada. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Cano 2; Damon. SF: Cano. GIDP: Matsui. Team LOB: 6. BASERUNNING SB: Giambi (2, 2nd base off Cueto/Ross). CS: Abreu (4, 2nd base by Cueto/Ross). FIELDING E: Rodriguez (6, throw). Pickoffs: Pettitte (Ross at 1st base).

NY Yankees	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Pettitte (W, 8-5)	6.0	4	0	0	2	4	0	4.04
Ramirez	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	2.74
Farnsworth	0.2	2	1	1	0	1	1	4.24
Rivera (S, 21)	1.1	2	0	0	0	1	0	0.76

HBP: Giambi (by Cueto), Phillips, B (by Pettitte).
Pitches-strikes: Cueto 75-50, Majewski 13-9, Affeldt 21-11,
Lincoln 17-12, Pettitte 97-63, Ramirez 9-7, Farnsworth 14-8, Rivera 30-19.
Ground outs-fly outs: Cueto 2-5, Majewski 0-1, Affeldt 2-0,
Lincoln 2-1, Pettitte 8-5, Ramirez 0-2, Farnsworth 0-1, Rivera 3-0.
Batters faced: Cueto 19, Majewski 4, Affeldt 6, Lincoln 5,
Pettitte 24, Ramirez 3, Farnsworth 4, Rivera 6.
Inherited runners-scored: Affeldt 2-2, Lincoln 2-0, Rivera 1-0.
Umpires: HP: Charlie Reliford. 1B: Greg Gibson. 2B: Brian Runge. 3B: Scott Barry.
Weather: 74 degrees, partly cloudy.
Wind: 9 mph, Out to LF.
T: 2:54 (:56 delay).
Att: 54,234.