Teixeira's three-run homer leads Yanks over Indians

Only the coming days and weeks will determine if the swing was the one that finally extricates Mark Teixeira from his nearly two-month slump, or if it was just a swing.

For now, all involved will take what happened Sunday afternoon for what it was: a very big, game-changing hit.

Teixeira launched a go-ahead three-run homer with two outs in the seventh inning as the Yankees rebounded from Saturday's poor performance for a 7-3 victory over the Indians in front of 45,706 at the Stadium.

"We need a huge hit today and he comes up with it," manager Joe Girardi said.

Despite an outstanding start by A.J. Burnett, the Yankees trailed 3-0 going into the bottom of the seventh. Then they scored five runs, all with two outs.

Derek Jeter's two-run single off starter Justin Masterson made it 3-2 and Curtis Granderson's double off lefthanded reliever Tony Sipp put runners on second and third. Teixeira fell behind Sipp 0-and-2, worked the count to 2-and-2, then hit a long drive into the bleachers in leftfield for a 5-3 lead, his eighth homer of the season but first since May 15. "I was really just trying to hit a hard ball up the middle," he said. "When he hung that slider, it allowed me to put a really good swing on it."

In the eighth, Juan Miranda had an RBI double and Francisco Cervelli hit a sacrifice fly.

Although Teixeira entered the game hitting .215, he felt good about his at-bats the last week. It was the fourth game in the last seven in which he has had two hits, and he has 34 RBIs in just under one-third of a season.

He's not ready to declare an official turnaround, but the better at-bats have coincided with cutting down the number of pregame swings. "I overdid it," he said. "The first part of the season, because I was trying to make it happen, I probably overworked a little bit."

Burnett (6-2), with a sinker he controlled as well as he has all season, allowed five hits, walked none and struck out eight in eight innings. Two of the three runs off him were unearned.

With two outs and no one on base in the seventh, he hit .134-hitting Luis Valbuena with a pitch. Jeter's throwing error allowed Valbuena to score and Jason Donald's triple made it 3-0.

"We pounded the righties in a lot with sinkers and it was going where we wanted it to," Burnett said. "It goes back to me not trying to be perfect with it . . . just trusting it and letting it go and let it move right in on them. It was big for me. Big pitch."

The Yankees (30-20) got precious few of those in Saturday's 13-11 loss to the Indians (18-30), one in which they had led by six runs. With the bullpen all but fried, Burnett threw 116 pitches.

"My main goal coming in today was to hand the ball over to Mo in the ninth," Burnett said. Mariano Rivera pitched a 1-2-3 ninth, getting two strikeouts.

Girardi was pleased to see his team rebound from Saturday's loss. "It's gratifying because you don't ever want to have a carry-over effect," he said. "You're going to have tough losses during the course of the year, and you want to make sure your guys are mentally and physically equipped to bounce back. They showed that today."