Alex Rodriguez and the rest of the Yankees’ sluggers made Chase Wright an easy winner in his big league debut.

Rodriguez hit his major leagueleading eighth home run, and Jorge Posada and Doug Mientkiewicz also connected in the second inning off an ineffective Jake Westbrook to power New York past the Cleveland Indians 10–3 last night.

Posada, who hit his 200th career homer, and Rodriguez each had three RBIs to help the Yankees (6-6) take the opener of a three-game series. They bounced back from a stunning loss in Oakland on Sunday, when closer Mariano Rivera gave up a game-ending homer to light-hitting Marco Scutaro.

Called up from Double-A Trenton to fill a spot in New York’s injury-depleted rotation, Wright (1-0) showed impressive poise following a shaky start.

Staked to an early 8–1 lead and wearing teammate Sean Henn’s glove, the 24-year-old left-hander allowed three runs and five hits in five innings. His father sat in the stands, snapping photos while wearing a Yankees cap and jacket.

A third-round pick in the 2001 amateur draft, Wright was the pitcher of the year in the Florida State League (Class-A) in 2006. But he toiled in the low minors for five seasons before reaching Double-A for the first time this year.

After pitching well in big league camp this spring, he threw 14 scoreless innings in two starts for Trenton, striking out 19 and walking one.

He wasn’t nearly as dominant against the Indians, but he was good enough. Brian Bruney, Mike Myers and Chris Britton finished with four innings of perfect relief.

With Chien-Ming Wang, Mike Mussina, Carl Pavano, and Jeff Karstens all on the disabled list, Wright could get another start Sunday night at Boston.

Travis Hafner hit a solo homer for the Indians.

Westbrook (0–2) had one of the worst outings of his major league career — four days after Cleveland announced a $33 million, threeyear contract extension. The right-hander allowed eight runs and eight hits in 1 2–3 innings, leaving him with a 12.08 ERA after three starts.

It was Westbrook’s shortest outing not cut short by rain since his major league debut with the Yankees, when he also lasted only 1 2–3 innings against the Chicago White Sox on June 17, 2000.

With rain falling at the beginning, Wright walked his first two batters, barely missing on 3–2 pitch to leadoff hitter Grady Sizemore, who scored on Victor Martinez’s RBI groundout.

The Yankees went ahead in the bottom of the first on Rodriguez’s RBI single and Posada’s sacrifice fly. Then they broke it open with a six-run second.

Mientkiewicz hit a solo shot with one out, his first home run since June 30 with Kansas City at St. Louis. Johnny Damon doubled and scored on Bobby Abreu’s hard-hit single off the glove of first baseman Ryan Garko.

Rodriguez’s two-run drive gave him 21 RBIs, most in the majors. He owns a 17-game hitting streak dating to last season, and has at least one extra-base hit in 11 of his first 12 games this year.