Cano's home run in ninth inning beats Rays, 5-4

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Alex Rodriguez didn't come close to hitting his 600th home run last night. But he ranks only fourth on the Yankees' home run list this season, and the top three guys came through.

With one out in the ninth inning, the score tied and the Rays hoping to move into a tie for first place in the AL East, Robinson Cano tore into a 1-and-0 pitch by closer Rafael Soriano and nearly smacked it off the scoreboard in right.

Cano's 21st home run of the season gave the Yankees a 5-4 victory in front of a sellout crowd of 36,973 at Tropicana Field and a two-game AL East lead over Tampa Bay.

Cano went 3-for-4, including two doubles, that raised his average to .334, showing again why his name continues to be mentioned among MVP candidates.

"You do things like he did tonight, that's certainly the look, the taste, the feel of an MVP," said Rodriguez, who's won three such awards. "That was a huge, huge hit against their closer on the road while we're trying to protect first place. It doesn't get any bigger than that."

Mark Teixeira also hit his 21st homer, a two-run shot off Rays starter Matt Garza, coming off his no-hitter last Monday, that tied it at 3-3 in the sixth, and Nick Swisher hit his 20th, a solo shot off Garza that tied it at 4 in the seventh.

Matt Joyce, whose three-run homer beat the Yankees Friday, had given the Rays a 4-3 lead with a solo shot off Javier Vazquez in the sixth.

Swisher and Teixeira were more interested in giving Cano the credit. "Robbie's been doing it all year," Swisher said.

"Robinson definitely has that [MVP] talent," Teixeira said. "He carries a team like he did tonight, gets a big home run. A few more of those and people are going to start talking about him with the best players in baseball, which is where he belongs."

Cano hit the second pitch he saw well out of the park. "I wasn't looking for a homer in that situation, I was just looking to get on base for my teammates,'' he said, "but I was able to hit it out." Mariano Rivera, making his first appearance since Monday in Cleveland, then allowed a shattered-bat single by Willy Aybar with two outs in the ninth before earning his 22nd save.

Rodriguez's march toward 600 remained stalled as he went 0-for-3 with a walk, dropping him to 3-for-24 in the last six games. Rodriguez, who has 16 homers this season, is 9-for-37 since hitting No. 599.

A-Rod, who came into the series feeling good about his at-bats, hasn't felt good about the last two nights. "The way I'm swinging right now, it's probably going to take a while," he said with a weary laugh. "Everybody get comfortable."

One of the newest Yankees, Lance Berkman, went 0-for-4 as the DH. But he talked excitedly about the jump from a fifth-place team, the Astros, to one in first, taking on a division rival in front of an electric crowd.

"It definitely was sort of a playoff-type atmosphere," Berkman said. "Maybe not quite the intensity, but pretty dang close. Coming from where I've been, it was very intense, so I enjoyed it."

"It's been a tremendous atmosphere and it's been two really good teams playing," Joe Girardi said. "Two really good ballgames. Big home runs. Just two outstanding games."