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Rasner leads Yankees to win over Mariners, 8-2

The New York Yankees Melky Cabrera, Robinson Cano, Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon celebrate their sweep of Seattle. (Newsday / Audrey C. Tiernan / May 4, 2008)

BY KAT O'BRIEN | kat.obrien@newsday.com

10:30 PM EDT, May 4, 2008

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Darrell Rasner, step on up.

The Yankees turned to Rasner for pitching help after youngsters Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy failed to get the job done because of injury (Hughes) and ineffectiveness (both), and Rasner came through with a strong performance Sunday in his first 2008 major-league start.

Aided by Derek Jeter's four-hit day and back-to-back homers by Melky Cabrera and Robinson Cano during a six-run third inning, Rasner led the Yankees to an 8-2 win over the Mariners at Yankee Stadium.

The three-game sweep -- in which the Yankees outscored Seattle 19-4 -- followed the Tigers' three-game sweep of the Yankees at the Stadium. The Detroit series had prompted Hank Steinbrenner to tell The Associated Press on Friday: "I'm very disappointed with the way the season has gone, period."

Steinbrenner did not return a phone call Sunday, but he's surely feeling a little better about his 17-16 team.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi said he wasn't sure of the specifics of Steinbrenner's comments, or if his players were aware of them, but said: "We weren't necessarily happy with what was going on ... We had a new kid start, Ras, and he just came in and did his job."

Even before Rasner (1-0) held the Mariners to five hits and no walks in six innings, the Yankees had committed to keeping him in the rotation for at least one more start. Rasner allowed a two-run homer by Adrian Beltre with two outs in the first but gave up only three hits after that. He would have gone out for the seventh if Girardi had not needed to get relievers work.

Rasner, 27, whose major-league season was derailed last year by a broken finger, was among the final cuts in spring training. The Yankees opted to go without a long man, and he began the season at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

"He had a shot," Girardi said. "We didn't see the real Darrell Rasner in spring training. I mean, he threw OK, but he wasn't nearly as sharp as he was in Scranton and here ."

Then Hughes went down with a stress fracture in a rib. And Rasner, who was 4-0 with a 0.87 ERA in Triple-A, earned the call-up.

"I didn't want to change at all," Rasner said. "I wanted to continue to build on what I was working on [with Scranton]."

Perhaps the most encouraging thing for the Yankees, who had watched Kennedy nibble at the edges of the strike zone for a month, was that Rasner did not walk anyone. He needed only 76 pitches, 49 of them strikes, to get through six innings.

"It was everything," Rasner said. "That was my whole game plan coming in, trying to get that first-pitch strike."

Despite missing injured Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada, the Yankees battered Mariners starter Carlos Silva (3-1) for eight runs and 11 hits in three innings plus two batters. Silva historically has pitched poorly against the Yankees. Sunday, he was awful, raising his lifetime ERA against them from 7.59 to 9.62.

Singles by Johnny Damon, Jeter and Bobby Abreu brought the Yankees within 2-1 with none out in the third, and Hideki Matsui's ground-rule double to leftfield tied it. Mariners leftfielder Raul Ibañez made a nice running catch of Jason Giambi's long drive to left, which became a sacrifice fly that put the Yankees ahead for good.

Then the Yankees really drilled Silva. Down 1-and-2 in the count, Cabrera turned on an inside fastball and hit his team-leading sixth home run to rightfield. Six pitches later, the slumping Cano made it back-to-back homers.

Damon again got the Yankees started in the fourth as he singled, stole second and scored on Jeter's bloop ground-rule double to right. Matsui's single made it 8-2.

The first four batters -- Damon, Jeter, Abreu and Matsui -- went 11-for-18 with a walk, six runs and four RBIs. "Even if Alex and Jorge are here, we still need to get on base for them," Jeter said. "Solo home runs don't mean too much, usually."

Jeter has gone 7-for-10 the last two games to lift his average to .313. Said Girardi, "He's so consistent that you know when it's all said and done, he's going to have hits and numbers."