Major League Baseball

Teixeira homers for third straight game

Published May. 21, 2011 1:00 a.m. ET

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All or nothing. That just about sums up the New York Yankees and their homer-happy offense.

Mark Teixeira homered for the third straight game, Alex Rodriguez also connected and the Yankees went deep four times to back A.J. Burnett in a 7-3 victory over the New York Mets on Saturday night.

Russell Martin and Curtis Granderson also homered as the Yankees evened the Subway Series at one apiece and snapped a six-game skid at home - their longest since 2003.

''It was a big one for us today to get that W at home. It's been a while,'' Burnett said.

The Yankees have scored a whopping 52.2 percent of their 226 runs on homers this season. Trotting around the bases four times, they won a game in which they did not strand a runner for the first time since April 26, 1988, against Kansas City.

''We've been good and bad. Overall if you look at the numbers, league-wise we're OK. But I think there's a lot of room for improvement. Besides Curtis, we could all do better,'' Rodriguez said. ''It's important for us to think small ball. To also score runs on base hits, singles and doubles.''

Derek Jeter had two hits, scored twice and got his 326th career stolen base, tying Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson for the Yankees record.

''See that? I mean, it's hard to believe. Rickey was only here what, a year and a half?'' Jeter said with a smile. ''It's like I've always said, you play long enough and try to be consistent and I guess good things happen.''

All four Yankees homers came off Chris Capuano (3-5), who allowed only 11 runs in his previous five starts. But he couldn't keep up the Mets' run of stingy pitching lately - they had given up just one run while winning their past three games.

''I think that's the frustrating part for me: I didn't give up a lot of hits, just big ones,'' said Capuano, noting the difference between spacious Citi Field back home and hitter-friendly Yankee Stadium. ''I think maybe we are a little more spoiled at Citi. I think we really know how good we have it there as pitchers.''

Burnett (5-3) shook off a rough start and bounced back from a disappointing outing Monday night, when he squandered a four-run lead at Tampa Bay and took a loss that left the Yankees with a six-game slide.

This time, he fell behind 2-0 in the first inning but pitched into the seventh. Drafted by the Mets in 1995 and traded to Florida in a 1998 package for Al Leiter, Burnett yielded three runs and six hits in 6 1-3 innings against his former club.

''The less hard I am on myself, the more I'm able to turn the page,'' Burnett said.

David Robertson entered with runners at the corners in the seventh, but struck out Carlos Beltran and retired Jason Bay on a popup. Joba Chamberlain needed nine pitches to get through a perfect eighth and Luis Ayala worked a 1-2-3 ninth.

Robinson Cano made a smooth play at second base to end the sixth, keeping the Yankees ahead 4-3.

Granderson led off the bottom half by hitting an 0-2 pitch to the short right-field porch for his team-best 15th home run of the season.

''The only balls that were hit were home runs, pretty much,'' said Granderson, who has eight homers against left-handers, topping his previous single-season high of five in 2008.

One out later, Rodriguez hit his ninth into the front row of seats in left.

That was it for Capuano, who had never before served up four home runs in a game. He had given up three four times, the last on Aug. 24, 2007, with Milwaukee at San Francisco.

The left-hander has lost four of his last five starts.

''Threw seven bad pitches all night, four of them went out,'' Mets manager Terry Collins said. ''I knew coming in we'd have to keep the ball in the park.''

Teixeira added a sacrifice fly in the eighth and finished with three RBIs. He had a long, two-run homer to the opposite-field in the third to put the Yankees ahead 4-2, his 12th.

Martin tied it at 2 with a two-run shot in the second. He is 8 for 13 (.615) with two homers, four doubles and nine RBIs against Capuano.

''These guys are real strong. I probably threw too many strikes, if that's possible,'' Capuano said.

Jose Reyes had three hits against Burnett after entering 0 for 17 against the right-hander. Reyes scored in the first on Bay's sacrifice fly, and Justin Turner added an RBI single with two outs.

That gave Turner an RBI in seven straight games, which set a Mets rookie record.

Beltran had a broken-bat single in the fifth to drive in Reyes and cut it to 4-3.

Notes: Granderson didn't hit his 15th home run last year until Aug. 31. ... Rodriguez is 5 for 6 against Capuano with two home runs. ... Rodriguez was the DH and Eduardo Nunez started at 3B. Jorge Posada was benched against a left-hander again. ... Yankees backup outfielder Chris Dickerson was cleared to play, three days after he was hit in the head by a fastball that left him with a concussion. He entered as a defensive replacement in the eighth. ... Collins plans to use Beltran as the DH on Sunday, and C Ronny Paulino will start behind the plate. Fernando Martinez will play RF in place of Beltran.

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