Sun May 4 16:14:38 2008

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Rasner solid in season debut as Yankees pound Mariners

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Bronx, NY (Sports Network) - Darrell Rasner tossed six solid innings in his season debut, and Melky Cabrera and Robinson Cano hit back-to-back homers in a six-run third inning as New York completed a three-game sweep of Seattle with an 8-2 win at Yankee Stadium.

Rasner (1-0), who was called up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre before the game, allowed just two runs on five hits for the Yankees, who moved one game above .500 on the year at 17-16.

Ross Ohlendorf, Kyle Farnsworth and Mariano Rivera closed things out with an inning of scoreless relief apiece. Rivera has not given up an earned run in 13 innings pitched this season.

Derek Jeter finished 4-of-5 with two runs scored and an RBI, while Bobby Abreu was 3-for-4 and drove in a run.

Adrian Beltre hit a two-run home run to account for the Mariners' only offense.

Carlos Silva (3-1) was touched for eight runs on 11 hits in just three-plus innings of work en route to his first loss of the year for Seattle, which finished a six-game road swing at 1-5.

Trailing 2-0, the Yankees bounced back and broke open the game with a six-run third. Consecutive singles by Johnny Damon, Jeter and Abreu got New York on the board, and Hideki Matsui followed by slicing an RBI double down the left field line to even things.

Jason Giambi put the Yankees in front with a sacrifice fly to left before Cabrera stepped to the plate and drilled a two-run homer over the wall in right, his sixth of the year. The struggling Cano, who came into the game hitting just .150, then capped the big inning by blasting his third homer of the year.

New York kept pouring it on with two more runs in the fourth. Damon led off with a single, swiped second and came around to score when Jeter blooped a double down the right field line.

The Mariners had seen enough of Silva at that point and went to Ryan Rowland- Smith, who managed to get Abreu to bounce back to the box, but Matsui followed with an RBI single to right that made it 8-2.

The Mariners jumped on top with a pair of runs in the first. Raul Ibanez got on with a two-out single and Beltre followed by crushing a Rasner offering over the wall in left for his sixth homer of the year.

Game Notes

The Yankees optioned struggling starting pitcher Ian Kennedy to Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes Barre to make room for Rasner. Kennedy was 0-2 with a woeful 8.37 earned run average in five starts this season...New York last swept the Mariners in a three-game set in the Bronx from May 9-11, 2005.