One night later, the Yankees took advantage of their walks.

Slumping Hideki Matsui hit a tiebreaking, two-run single after Mark Hendrickson walked his first two batters of the night in the sixth inning, and the Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 4-1 last night.

Shawn Chacon put his early struggles behind him with his second straight strong outing, and the Yankees bounced back from Wednesday’s 4-2, 10-inning loss, in which they walked 14 times – with none of those runners scoring.This time, they had three walks, and all three runners came around.

Derek Jeter went 3-for-3 with a walk and an RBI double in the seventh, raising his average to .408.

New York rallied for three unearned runs in the sixth after an error by third baseman Russell Branyan, who backed up and let Gary Sheffield’s two-hopper kick off the heel of his glove and roll through his legs. Branyan was making his first start of the year at third because Ty Wigginton shifted to second to replace Jorge Cantu, who’s out with a broken left foot.

Chacon (3-1) allowed four hits in 6 1/3 innings. In his last two starts, he has lowered his ERA from 8.03 to 4.56.

Mike Myers escaped a two-on jam in the seventh, Kyle Farnsworth got the last two outs of the eighth and Tanyon Sturtze allowed a leadoff single in the ninth. Mariano Rivera, who allowed a pair of 10th-inning runs Wednesday, got three outs for his third save in four chances.

Hendrickson (1-1) gave up just four hits in six innings, and all the runs off him were unearned because of Branyan’s error.

Jeter’s one-out walk started the rally, and the Yankees loaded the bases when Sheffield reached on the error and Alex Rodriguez walked.

Jason Giambi hit a slow hopper to first that drove in the tying run. Matsui, in a 1-for-16 slide, followed with a roller up the middle that was perfectly placed. Shortstop Tomas Perez and Wigginton both dived and wound up back-to-back, prone, as the ball went between them.