Yankees, Mets Win
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NEW YORK – Alex Rodriguez homered and drove in four runs to back Ian Kennedy’s impressive major league debut, as the Yankees rolled to another win.
Tampa Bay had Mr. Rodriguez’s bat confiscated in a classic case of gamesmanship – one inning after umpires took away Akinori Iwamura’s unusual model following a request from Yankees manager Joe Torre.
Mr. Kennedy (1-0) allowed one earned run in seven innings, helping New York extend its wild-card lead to two games over Seattle. Pitching in place of struggling Mike Mussina, the 22-year-old right-hander gave up five hits, struck out six and walked two.
Mr. Rodriguez hit his major league-leading 45th homer in the first inning, a two-run shot off Edwin Jackson (4-13). The two-time MVP added a two-run double in the fourth.
B.J. Upton hit his 22nd homer for Tampa Bay. Josh Wilson had a two-run double but committed three errors at shortstop.<
Meanwhile, in Atlanta, Mike Pelfrey allowed one hit in six innings to win his first game of the season after seven losses and Carlos Delgado, Lastings Milledge and Carlos Beltran each hit solo home runs to help the New York Mets beat the Atlanta Braves 5-1 on Saturday.
The Mets won their second in a row in Atlanta after getting swept in four games at Philadelphia. The Braves lost for the eighth time in their last 11 games to fall 6½ behind the Mets in the NL East. Atlanta began the day 5½ back in the wild-card race.
Mr. Pelfrey (1-7), recalled from Triple-A New Orleans prior to the game, struck out seven, a career high for the second-year pitcher. He walked three, and the only hit was a clean single to right in the fourth by Mark Teixeira.
Mr. Pelfrey ended an eight-game losing streak. He was 2-1 with the Mets last season, won his first two games – the last on July 18 – before losing on July 23 to Houston. He pitched only 22 innings for New York in 2006.
Mr. Delgado, who hit a home run in Friday night’s 7-1 win, hit his 21st home run in the fifth and one out later Mr. Milledge hit his fourth, both off Atlanta starter Chuck James (9-10). Mr. Beltran, who went 3-for-4 and scored three times, hit his 26th in the seventh off reliever Manny Acosta.
