ARLINGTON, Texas – Jason Giambi and Aaron Small won a lot of games as high school teammates in California in the late 1980s. Now, they are winning together with the Yankees.

Giambi and Tino Martinez homered twice, and New York matched its season high with six to back Small in his first major league start in nine years, the Yankees’ 8-4 win over the Texas Rangers last night.

“We had a great team. We’ve put some guys in the major leagues. … Aaron was our best pitcher. He was tall and threw 90,” Giambi said. “When he gets his confidence going, he can be a factor. He can handle spot starts and really help this team out.”

Small (1-0) became the 12th different New York starter this season, the most for any team. He worked 5 1/3 innings in his Yankees debut for his first victory since September 2, 1998, in his first start since September 1996 for Oakland.

“I told (Jason) after the game was over, ‘Huskies Pride.’ That was the high school we went to,” Small said. “That was fun.”

After they played together in 1989 as seniors at South Hills High in West Covina, Calif., Small was drafted by the Blue Jays and started his professional career that summer, while Giambi went to Long Beach State and was drafted by Oakland in 1992. They were teammates with the A’s from 1996-98.

All six Yankees homers came from left-handed hitters and accounted for all the runs. They came on a night when Gary Sheffield, Alex Rodriguez, and Hideki Matsui were a combined 0-for-13.

Giambi and Jorge Posada put the Yankees ahead to stay with consecutive homers in the second off Joaquin Benoit (1-1), who struck out the first four batters he faced and got a flyball out before then.

Benoit had retired eight more in a row until Martinez’s one-out homer in the fifth. Robinson Cano’s three-run homer made it 6-1, and Benoit was pulled without throwing a pitch in the sixth even after coming out to warm up.

“They got good pitches to hit and hit it out,” said Benoit, who had allowed just two runs over 26 innings in 11 relief appearances. “I felt comfortable. Things happen. This was one of the bad days.”

Giambi, whose first homer to center just missed the glove of Gary Matthews Jr., left no doubt about the second one, his 13th of the season – and majors-best eighth in July. His 408-foot shot to right-center in the sixth gave him his second multihomer game this season, and 25th of his career.

“I’m feeling good,” said Giambi, who reached base three times and raised his batting average to .284. “I got some good pitches to hit. I’m trying to keep it simple.”

Martinez homered again in the ninth, his 15th, an inning after his fielding error allowed a Texas run. It was his second multihomer game this season and 22nd of his career.

“When Tino was signed here, we didn’t expect this much production,” Joe Torre said. “He’s a true pro. He made the error, came in and apologized to me, and then hit a home run.”

The Yankees won for the 12th time in 15 games to remain a half-game behind Boston in the AL East. They begin a four-game series at the AL West-leading Los Angeles Angels today.

Small allowed three runs and five hits, throwing 51 of 91 pitches for strikes. The right-hander, who pitched for his seventh different team in eight major league seasons since 1994, struck out three and walked four.