Granderson's HR in 10th, Mo's escape act a winning combination

PHOENIX - Only Mo.

That was the prevailing thought in the visitor's clubhouse Wednesday night after a classic Mariano Rivera Houdini act helped the Yankees beat the Diamondbacks, 6-5, in front of 46,325 at Chase Field.

Handed a one-run lead in the top of the 10th inning by Curtis Granderson, who led off with a home run, Rivera loaded the bases with none out in the bottom half.

Somehow Rivera (1-1) got out of it, inducing two pop-ups, including one by Adam LaRoche, who had five RBIs on the night, and striking out Mark Reynolds to seal the victory.

"You're thinking that they're at least going to score one there. And then you hope that you're able to score one in the top of the 11th,'' Alex Rodriguez said. "It's unbelievable. I don't think there's a human on the planet that can get out of that jam like Mo.''

Said Rivera: "You just have to hold your composure and make your pitches. Little help from the Lord and get it done."

Asked if the 2001 World Series came to mind, when he gave up the tying and winning runs in Game 7 against the Diamondbacks in Arizona, Rivera said, "No, it's 2010. All I wanted to get was three outs. That definitely wasn't a factor."

Granderson, 1-for-8 the first two games of the series, had three hits. Granderson's homer, his seventh of the season, came on a 2-and-1 pitch by righthander Carlos Rosa (0-2) that the outfielder launched deep into the seats in right. It was the final run in an ugly game.

"It was a splitter changeup and somehow I was able to go ahead and connect with it on the big part of the bat and it was able to get out of the ballpark," Granderson said.

The teams totaled 18 walks, 13 of them allowed by the Diamondbacks, with the two most critical going to Derek Jeter and Nick Swisher, whom former Met Aaron Heilman walked to lead off the ninth. After Mark Teixeira moved the runners with a ground out, Jeter scored on Rodriguez's sacrifice fly to right to tie it at 5.

Rivera, rarely brought in on the road in a tie game, came in for the ninth and put the Diamondbacks down in order. That meant he got to bat, only his fourth career plate appearance, in the 10th. Looking for his first hit, he grounded out sharply, to second.

Javier Vazquez had his worst outing since May 27, but it was the Yankees offense that had the most trouble early, only able to take minimal advantage of Arizona starter Dontrelle Willis' inability to throw strikes.

Willis walked seven in 21/3 innings with just 27 of his 66 pitches going for strikes. But the Yankees managed only two runs off him.

Vazquez, who came in having won three of his previous four starts, allowed four runs and six hits in five innings.

Willis walked three in the first, but somehow got out of the inning with just one run.

Jeter led off the game by walking on four pitches, went to second on a wild pitch and scored on Swisher's single for a 1-0 lead. Swisher walked and was picked off, but it still appeared as if the Yankees might have a big inning. Teixeira walked, as did Rodriguez, which brought Robinson Cano to the plate. Cano got ahead 3-and-1 but Willis battled back to a full count, and on his 3-and-2 pitch got a strike 'em out, throw 'em out with Cano fanning and Teixeira getting cut down at third.

As odd as the Yankees' half of the inning was, the Diamondbacks' was about as strange.

Kelly Johnson drew a leadoff walk and Stephen Drew singled. Justin Upton singled to right and Swisher came up quickly with the ball. Diamondbacks third base coach Bo Porter threw up the stop sign but Johnson ran through it and was caught between third and home, eventually out 9-3-2.

Vazquez, after walking Miguel Montero to load the bases, looked as if he might get out of the inning unscored upon. He struck out Chris Young with a 71-mph curveball but LaRoche lined Vazquez's 3-and-2 pitch to right for a two-run single that gave Arizona a 2-1 lead.

Willis somehow retired the Yankees 1-2-3 in the second before getting himself pulled in the third, walking Vazquez to start the inning and, after Jeter reached on a fielder's choice, walking the next three batters to force in Jeter to tie it at 2. That was it for Willis.

Blaine Boyer relieved and escaped the inning by getting Cano to ground into a 4-6-3 double play.

Vazquez retired six straight after LaRoche's single but the Diamondbacks retook the lead 4-2 in the fourth on another two-run single by LaRoche.

The Yankees wasted another scoring chance in the fifth when, with two on, Gerardo Parra made a diving catch on the track of Cano's drive and doubled off Rodriguez, who was on first and nearly ran past Teixeira as he rounded second as the catch was made.

"Obviously we're not happy about the way we played today and we know we have to do a lot of things better,'' Rodriguez said. "We'll take the win but we really don't feel good about it."

The Yankees finally got to Boyer in the sixth as Francisco Cervelli, getting the start for the resting Jorge Posada, who had caught the first two games of the series, led off with a double. Granderson singled and Brett Gardner's grounder to second brought in Cervelli to make it 4-3. Colin Curtis, who went to nearby Arizona State and collected his first big- league hit Tuesday, hit a ground smash that deflected off LaRoche at first and skittered away, allowing Granderson to score to tie it at 4.

Damaso Marte came in for the sixth and continued the evening of poor pitching, walking Young with one out, balking the centerfielder to second, then throwing a wild pitch that moved him to third. LaRoche's groundout brought in Young to make it 5-4.