Hideki Matsui left his first three at-bats behind him, wasn’t worried about delivering with Alex Rodriguez out of the lineup, and wasn’t bothered by the funky motion of Twins reliever Pat Neshek. The reserved slugger was focused on the moment.

Matsui hit a tiebreaking two-run homer off Neshek in the eighth inning to lift the Yankees to a 7–6 victory over Minnesota yesterday. “He’s so professional that even when he’s not swinging well it’s easy to be convinced that he’s going to do it, because you trust him so much,” manager Joe Torre said.

Matsui, who batted cleanup with Rodriguez resting his strained left hamstring, came up with runners on in his first three plate appearances and was retired each time. He lined a single into right in the sixth before coming through in the ninth.

“I let the results go,” Matsui said through a translator. “There’s something learned from those at-bats but as far as the results, I’m going to leave it as that and move forward.”

Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera also homered for New York, which played without Rodriguez for the first time this season. Torre said an MRI exam on Rodriguez’s hamstring came back normal.

Derek Jeter walked with two outs in the eighth against Neshek (3–1) before Matsui hit a 3–1 pitch deep into the stands in right for his 10th homer of the season. Neshek entered the game with a 1.34 ERA and struck out the first two batters he faced.

“He got a fastball and he just crushed it,” Neshek said. “That’s what good hitters do when you miss your spot.”

The mild-mannered Matsui acknowledged the cheering Yankee Stadium crowd with a brief curtain call after his second homer in as many games.

“It’s a great feeling,” he said. “It’s just that we’re still in the middle of the game and you don’t want to have the game really be focusing on just that part.”

Kyle Farnsworth (1–1) pitched a perfect eighth and Mariano Rivera allowed Joe Mauer’s RBI groundout in the ninth before finishing for his 11th save in 13 opportunities. Rivera struck out Michael Cuddyer with a runner on second to end the game.

“We battled pretty good,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. “We gave ourselves a good chance in the ninth against one of the best relievers around.”

It also was save no. 424 for Rivera, tying him with John Franco for third on the career list.

“The most important thing is that we won the game,” Rivera said. “Without my teammates, I can’t accomplish anything.”

New York took three of four from the Twins and improved to 4–3 on its 10-game homestand, despite another shaky start by Kei Igawa. Minnesota didn’t get much from Kevin Slowey , either, and optioned the rookie to Triple-A Rochester after he lasted just 3.2 innings in his shortest start of the season.

The Twins got to Igawa for two runs in the first and three in the fourth. Cuddyer and Justin Morneau had RBI singles as Minnesota’s first four batters of the game reached against the struggling Yankees starter.