Sabathia wins 17th, Cano drives in six in 10-0 win over Seattle

This is why CC Sabathia was brought to the Yankees.

For moments like these, when the Yankees' starting rotation is in disarray and the disabled list is an ever-growing and ever-changing inventory of top talent. There's just a certain level of comfort that a Sabathia start brings - and Sunday was no different.

Battling wind and heavy rain, the 6-foot-7 lefty tossed six innings of three-hit ball, striking out eight and walking none before inclement weather halted his day at 2:38 p.m.

Play resumed after a 57-minute delay and the Yankees, who were ahead by five runs at the time, went on to defeat Seattle, 10-0, in front of 46,778. That put them 30 games over .500 for the first time at 77-47 and kept them one game ahead of the Rays.

Sabathia, who is 15-0 with a 2.17 ERA in 20 starts at Yankee Stadium dating to the 2009 All-Star break, collected his 17th win, matching the Rockies' Ubaldo Jimenez and the Cardinals' Adam Wainwright for the most in the majors.

"It's just an ace being an ace," manager Joe Girardi said.

Robinson Cano drove in a career-high six runs for the Yankees, including a grand slam in the fifth inning on a first-pitch changeup from lefthander Luke French, who had intentionally walked Mark Teixeira to load the bases.

It was Cano's 25th homer of the season, tying his career high, and fourth grand slam of his career. Thirteen of his home runs have come against lefthanders in only 156 at-bats. It also was the 10th grand slam for the team this season, matching the club record set by the 1987 Yankees.

"When the club needs big performances, Robbie Cano can do it," Girardi said. "You're probably going to look at, possibly, the AL player of the week in a week where we really needed him to be big."

And while Cano skillfully adapts to the cleanup role in Alex Rodriguez's absence, Sabathia (17-5, 3.02 ERA) continues to be a calming force in a rotation battling inconsistency and injury. He set a club record by going at least six innings and allowing three or fewer earned runs for the 16th straight start, in which time he has gone 13-2 with a 2.32 ERA. With each passing week, his outings become all the more important as the team continues its postseason push. "That's just what we try to do," he said. "We all try to go out there and pick up the slack."

Sabathia's numbers suggest he'll be in the Cy Young Award discussion. But he's got another goal in mind. "I'd rather win a World Series," he said. "I'll take that any day over a Cy Young."

Austin Kearns hit his 10th homer in the fourth and Cano gave the Yankees a 5-0 lead in the fifth. Derek Jeter's sacrifice fly and Cano's two-out, two-run single off lefthander Chris Seddon made it 8-0 in the sixth and left Cano at 8-for-13 with the bases loaded this season. Posada hit his 15th homer in the seventh and Marcus Thames had an RBI single in the eighth.

Seattle (49-75) had a chance to tie the score in the fifth after Franklin Gutierrez broke up Sabathia's no-hit bid with a leadoff double down the leftfield line. One out later, Adam Moore singled to right and Gutierrez never slowed down, running through third-base coach Lee Tinsley's stop sign. Nick Swisher made a perfect throw home and Posada made a good scoop before applying the tag - with an empty glove, as he had the ball in his bare hand. But he got the out call from umpire Sam Holbrook, and the Mariners didn't argue.

"Posada's a magician," Swisher said with a laugh.

Kerry Wood and Joba Chamberlain pitched a combined three innings to complete the six-hit shutout.