Sabathia outduels Rays' Price, 5-3

CC Sabathia entered Thursday night's start saddled with some bad recent history against the Rays. And shortly after first pitch, it became apparent that he'd have to overcome his third baseman as well.

But on a night when his team desperately needed a big pitching performance, the Yankees' ace was equal to the task. Sabathia outpitched David Price and overcame a pair of ugly errors by Eduardo Nuñez in a 5-3 victory over the Rays in front of 37,720 at the Stadium.

Sabathia allowed two runs -- both unearned, courtesy of Nuñez's two errors -- and seven hits in eight innings. In throwing a season-high 119 pitches, he struck out a season-best 10 and walked one.

"Best game he pitched all year,'' Joe Girardi said. "I thought he was brilliant. He shouldn't have given up a run. Ground ball after ground ball after ground ball. I thought his sinker was very good, I thought his changeup was good, I thought his slider was great. I thought he had everything working tonight.''

Sabathia (5-0, 3.51 ERA) has won his last five games, compiling a 2.52 ERA and allowing 29 hits and five walks in 391/3 innings with 38 strikeouts. Said Curtis Granderson, "Sure enough, he delivered again.''

"I'm always trying to go out and pitch well and get deep into the game,'' Sabathia said. "It's been a pretty good stretch for me, but hopefully I just keep going out and pitching the same way.''

It was the first victory of Sabathia's career against Price, who came in 3-0 with a 1.56 ERA in five career starts against him.

"He's a great pitcher and they have a great lineup,'' Sabathia said of his skid against Price. "It makes it tough, but I just wanted to go out and pitch well today.''

The Yankees (17-14) took two of three from the Rays (20-12), who swept them in a season-opening series in St. Petersburg. In that sweep, Yankees starters went 0-2 with a 6.06 ERA; in these three games, they went 2-0 with a 0.92 ERA.

Two-out RBI singles by Carlos Peña and Sean Rodriguez gave the Rays a run in each of the first two innings, set up by the errors that gave Nuñez a team-worst four. "It was a tough night for Nunie,'' Girardi said.

He later said he might reevaluate how he uses Nuñez, who has played third, short, second and left. "Maybe it's just difficult for him, all the different throws, for a kid used to playing shortstop,'' he said. "We're just going to have to keep working with him. You can see how valuable his bat is and his speed is. It's just been difficult for him, the adjustments.''

Nuñez did contribute in other ways, going 2-for-2 with a walk, two stolen bases and a run.

Granderson hit his 11th home run in the second -- giving him nine homers in his last 13 home games -- and Robinson Cano (three hits) broke a 2-2 tie in the fifth with a two-run homer off the lefthanded Price (5-2, 2.98). Doubles by Alex Rodriguez and Andruw Jones then made it 5-3.

Price allowed five runs, 11 hits -- three by the resurgent Cano -- and three walks. Cano has hit in eight straight games and has 10 hits in his last 21 at-bats.

For the third time in the series, the Yankees had an adventurous ninth, though only moderately so this time. David Robertson, 1-for-2 in his save chances this week, was unavailable, so the duties fell to Rafael Soriano, who pitched for the third straight game. Elliot Johnson reached on an infield single, stole second and scored on a pair of groundouts to make it 5-3. Ben Zobrist flied out to center to end it as Soriano picked up his first save of the season.

Chris Stewart had an RBI single to tie the score at 2 in the second. Nick Swisher singled before scoring on Cano's homer and threw out Jeff Keppinger at the plate to allow Sabathia to escape the jam in the first.

"I think this series was important for us because of the way we lost some games down there,'' Girardi said. "I think it was really important. To go out and swing the bats like that against such a quality pitcher makes the guys feel pretty good about themselves.''