Yankees 'A' Game Unravels Sox

Bobby Abreu and Alex Rodriguez delivered the clutch hits late as the Yankees overcame some shoddy relief pitching for a 10-3 win. Mike Mussina bounced back from his bad outing in Boston to give the Yankees 6 solid innings. But leading 1-0 in the 7th Moose allowed back to back singles to Jim Thome and Paul Konerko, putting runners on the corners with no one out.

With lefty A.J. Pierzynski due up, Joe Torre opted to go to good-for-nothing lefthander Mike Myers. Myers failed again - no shock there - allowing an RBI single to Pierzynski to tie the game 1-1. Scott Proctor (1-3) quickly came in and retired 3 straight to end the rally.

The Yankees bats bounced right back in the top of the 8th. Derek Jeter, pinch-hitting for Wil Nieves, lead off with a walk against Jose Contreras (4-6). With 1 out, Jeter advanced to 2nd on a wild pitch and then moved to 3rd on Melky Cabrera's infield single.

Ozzie Guillen went to his lefty specialist, hard throwing Matt Thornton, to face Abreu. But Abreu drilled one in the gap in right-center to score both runners. A Hideki Matsui sac fly pushed the lead to 4-1. Torre than called on Kyle Farnsworth to pitch the home half of the 8th, but the inconsistent Farnsworth prompted an early call to Mariano Rivera (7th save).

After Luis Terrero lined out hard to left, Farnsworth gave up a single to Jerry Owens and promptly threw away a pick-off attempt to move Owens to 2nd. When Tadahito Iguchi delivered an RBI ground-rule double, Torre quickly went for his closer. A 2-out infield single by Konerko cut the lead to 4-3, but Mo struck out A.J. Pierzynski on a high fastball to end the inning.

Pierzynski, still upset about a called strike earlier in the bat, exchanged words with home plate ump Bob Davidson, and was tossed from the game. A suspension could be in store since Pierzynski then tossed his helmet in Davidson's direction.

No matter for the suddenly surging Yankees as they blew the game open the 9th. A-Rod blasted his 2nd grand slam of the season, and the 15th of his career, off Ryan Buckvich to put the game out of reach. It was A-Rod's 486th career HR. Robinson Cano added an RBI triple and scored on a Juan Uribe error one batter later.

The victory was the 6th in the last 8 games for the Bombers as they return home for a weekend series with the Pirates, and the return of Roger Clemens.

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