Rodriguez's bat comes alive in win over Arizona

PHOENIX - Most of Andy Pettitte's starts this season have had an assembly line quality to them.

Have an early rough inning, limit the damage in it, then all but slam the door the rest of the way.

That pretty much was the way of it Tuesday night as Pettitte outpitched Dan Haren in the Yankees' 9-3 victory over the Diamondbacks in front of 44,776 at Chase Field.

Pettitte (9-2) allowed just two runs, both in the second inning, in seven innings. It marked Pettitte's sixth straight start in which he's gone at least seven innings and allowed two earned runs or fewer.

"I feel really comfortable with all my pitches and my command of all of them for a while now," said Pettitte, who also had a fifth-inning single. "I'm glad that I've been able to be in a good rhythm and be able to hold that rhythm for a while now."

Alex Rodriguez drove in three runs, including his first home run since June 3, a two-run shot in the first, and an RBI single in the third.

The Yankees (44-27) turned the 3-2 lead A-Rod provided into a 9-2 blowout with a six-run eighth, getting RBI singles from Mark Teixeira, who had two hits, Robinson Cano, and Curtis Granderson, along with Colin Curtis' two-run double, the outfielder's first major-league hit. Jorge Posada, catching a second straight game, added a sacrifice fly. Joba Chamberlain pitched a scoreless eighth and David Robertson allowed a run in the ninth.

Besides A.J. Burnett's problems, which continued here Monday night, a primary topic in manager Joe Girardi's pregame meeting with reporters was Rodriguez's power drought as he had just eight home runs coming in.

"I'm not really worried about home runs," Rodriguez said after Monday's loss. "I'm sure at the end of the year, I'm going to have exactly the number I have every year."

Before Tuesday night's game, Girardi said he agreed with his third baseman.

"I still believe he's going to hit a lot of home runs," Girardi said. "Hasn't happened yet. Can't tell you when it's going to happen, but I have that belief."

As if on cue, A-Rod stepped up with two outs in the first and swatted Haren's 1-and-1 pitch into the seats in left-center, a two-run shot that gave Pettitte and the Yankees a 2-0 lead. It was just the second homer of the month for Rodriguez and his ninth of the season. His only previous home run this month came June 3 against the Orioles, but he said the drought wasn't starting to bother him.

"The one thing I do worry about if you're not making solid contact and not driving runners in," he said. "The columns that I worry about are RBI and wins. Home runs . . . I've never considered myself a home run hitter, either."

Of more importance to Rodriguez, whose blast was the 592nd of his career, was that he said this is the best he's felt since missing four games with tendinitis in his hip flexor.

"The last four or five days, every day's been a little bit better," A-Rod said. "I'm not out of the woods yet, but I just have to keep working hard, doing my pool work . . . and every day it's getting a little better."

The Diamondbacks (28-44) tied it at 2 in the second as two walks sandwiched around a double loaded the bases to bring Haren up with two outs. Typically, that would bring a sigh but not with Haren, who brought a .425 average into the game. The pitcher slapped a two-run single down the rightfield line to make it 2-2.

Rodriguez gave the Yankees the lead for good at 3-2 on a two-out single up the middle that brought in Nick Swisher.

Haren, who allowed three runs and six hits in seven innings, singled again off Pettitte in the fifth but that came after the lefty had retired eight straight, already in the kind of groove the Yankees have seen so often this season after a bad inning. Coming in, Pettitte allowed a .308 average his first trip through the opposition's lineup but just a .190 mark thereafter.

The Diamondbacks, hardly alone this year in their frustration against Pettitte, had gotten all they were going to get.

"To stop it at two runs in that inning [the second] was really important," Girardi said. "To be able to go seven strong innings for us was great."