Major League Baseball

Teixeira leads Yanks to exhibition rout of Cubs

Published Apr. 4, 2009 9:51 p.m. ET

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Mark Teixeira is feeling right at home in his new house.

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Flashing the power stroke that earned him a $180 million contract with the Yankees, Teixeira homered twice and drove in four runs to lead New York over the lethargic Chicago Cubs 10-1 on Saturday.

Derek Jeter added a three-run shot and the Bronx Bombers opened their glitzy new ballpark by sweeping a pair of exhibition games from Chicago. They made the $1.5 billion palace look like a Little League band box, hitting seven home runs in two days.

Three came off struggling Cubs starter Rich Harden, who ended a rough spring with another ineffective outing. The oft-injured right-handed was tagged for eight runs — seven earned — and seven hits in 3 2-3 innings. He walked four and threw only 41 of 76 pitches for strikes.

The Yankees got sharp outings from Andy Pettitte and A.J. Burnett, two key members of their promising rotation.

Pettitte went the first four innings, yielding one run and six hits. Burnett was even better, striking out six in four scoreless innings while allowing two hits.

"I feel probably the best I've felt in a long time," Burnett said. "I'm very pleased with where I'm at going into the season."

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