Tex's homer helps Yankees beat Orioles, 8-5

BALTIMORE -- A rotation that seemed to have found its groove in the Yankees' recent homestand suffered a setback Monday night at Camden Yards.

Ivan Nova, pitching poorly after perhaps his best outing of the season last Tuesday, left the Yankees' 8-5 victory over the Orioles in the sixth inning with a contusion and sprain of his right foot and ankle.

X-rays came back negative, but it was not immediately clear how significant the injury is and if he will be able to make his next start.

When asked if it appeared to be something that might cost Nova a start, Joe Girardi said, "It could be.''

"I don't want to miss any starts,'' said Nova, who said he turned the ankle while making the play on Wilson Betemit's chopper to open the sixth.

Nova's injury wasn't the only bad news for the pitching staff.

Girardi said after the game that David Robertson didn't close -- Rafael Soriano did and earned his second save -- because he's been unavailable the last three days because of soreness near his left rib-cage area. He first felt it after pitching in a non-save situation Friday against the Mariners.

"There's a little worry,'' said Robertson, who is expected to be sent for tests Tuesday morning. "But I don't think it's too bad.''

Raul Ibañez came out in the ninth after getting hit on the right elbow with a pitch -- the baseball's seams were visible afterward -- but he said he expects to be OK.

After Nova left the game, Clay Rapada -- who soon left with what the Yankees announced as a viral infection -- David Phelps (1-1), Boone Logan and Cory Wade got the ball to Soriano.

There were plenty of positives from the night, starting with Mark Teixeira, who showed signs of climbing out of a five-week slump to start the season. He hit a two-run homer off former Yankee Luis Ayala in the seventh to give the Yankees a 7-5 lead, then doubled in the ninth and scored on Eric Chavez's sacrifice fly.

"It was a good night,'' said Teixeira, who has been battling a severe hacking cough for more than a month. "Obviously, I haven't been getting the results I've wanted. Tonight it was good I got to see some results.''

Teixeira, booed at the Stadium on Sunday after striking out with the bases loaded in the eighth inning of a 6-2 loss to Seattle, later said: "Yesterday I was the goat, today I was the hero. That's baseball. You're going to be the goat a lot more than the hero. Hopefully this gets me on a roll.''

Nick Swisher doubled home two runs to tie the score at 2-2 in the fourth and Curtis Granderson hit his 12th homer of the season (onto Eutaw Street) an inning later. Alex Rodriguez had three hits, Robinson Cano added two and Derek Jeter was among those with one, giving him 3,143 and sending him past Robin Yount for sole possession of 16th place on the all-time list.

The Yankees started slowly but eventually knocked around Baltimore starter Jason Hammel, who came in 4-1 with a 2.09 ERA and had not allowed more than two earned runs in any start. He was gone on a misty night after allowing five runs, four earned, in five innings.

Nova, who allowed five runs and seven hits in 51/3 innings and saw his ERA go to 5.44, took Nick Markakis' grounder off his right foot in the third inning but seemed unaffected at the time. But he had to leave in the sixth after Betemit's chopper.

Nova was coming off a strong start last Tuesday against the Rays in which he allowed two runs and struck out 10 in seven innings, but he struggled against the Orioles. "I didn't pitch very good today,'' he said.

Still, it was a victory over an Orioles team that came into the night in first place and had won two of three from the Yankees at the Stadium two weeks earlier.

"That's what good teams do,'' Girardi said of overcoming the injury adversity of the day. "Guys find a way to get it done.''