Major League Baseball

Yankees 4, Indians 3

Published Jun. 5, 2013 4:35 a.m. ET

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Coming off the worst start of his young career, David Phelps tried to put the flop out of his mind. Following his best outing yet, he took the same approach.

''Got to forget about this one, too,'' he said.

Phelps already was looking ahead toward his next trip to the mound after allowing a mere infield single in six shutout innings Tuesday night and pitching the New York Yankees past the Cleveland Indians 4-3.

''He shut them down,'' Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.

Mark Teixeira hit his second homer of the season since coming off the disabled list last Friday. His three-run shot made it 4-0 in the third inning, and came a day after he lined a grand slam against Cleveland.

''Big home run by Tex. That's two nights in a row,'' Girardi said. ''He's an RBI machine.''

Drew Stubbs hit a three-run homer in the seventh off Joba Chamberlain. But Nick Swisher lined into a key double play in the eighth against David Robertson and the Indians dropped their third in a row and seventh straight on the road - they also lost shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera, putting him on the disabled list after he strained his right quadriceps Monday night.

''I was up there against my best buddy Robby and just had a little bad luck,'' Swisher said. ''I'm always up for the challenge of playing here and playing against the Yankees. The homer by Stubby rejuvenated us, but we missed opportunities tonight.

''We aren't playing our best right now and we have to take a look in the mirror and turn things around,'' he added.

Phelps (4-3) neatly bounced back from his previous outing, when he gave up five runs while getting just one out against the New York Mets.

The 26-year-old righty struck out leadoff man Michael Bourn on three pitches and wound up fanning seven with four walks. The lone hit against him came when Stubbs beat out a slow roller to shortstop in the third.

Phelps, in his second major league season, walked the first two batters in the fifth. After a visit from pitching coach Larry Rothschild, Phelps retired the next three hitters.

Robertson escaped a first-and-second, no-out jam in the eighth when Swisher lined to second baseman Jayson Nix, whose flip doubled Jason Kipnis off second. The lineout against his former team left Swisher in an 0-for-13 rut.

Mariano Rivera struck out two in the ninth for his 21st save. Mike Aviles flied out to end it, then made a beeline toward plate umpire Tony Randazzo to confront him and was ejected - Aviles, who disputed a called third strike earlier in the game, was upset that the first pitch in the final at-bat was ruled a foul instead of a ball.

''Aviles and Tony were going back and forth. I can't let them go at each other,'' Indians manager Terry Francona said. ''You've got the best closer in the history of the game and he doesn't need any help.''

Said Aviles: ''It was pretty clear that the ball didn't hit the bat. I'm up there battling in a difficult spot and it was clear the ball never touched my bat. After the game, I said a few things and he was upset.''

Scott Kazmir (3-3) breezed through the first two innings, then gave up five straight hits to open the third. Teixeira capped the burst with his homer, tagging a familiar victim - Teixeira is 10 for 20 with four doubles and eight walks against Kazmir.

Lyle Overbay opened the Yankees' third with a double and Chris Stewart singled, but was caught trying to advance. Ichiro Suzuki followed with an RBI single, Nix singled and Teixeira homered down the left field line.

NOTES: The Yankees are 5-1 against Cleveland this year. ... Indians RHP Corey Kluber (3-3, 4.36 ERA) starts Wednesday afternoon vs. Yankees LHP CC Sabathia (5-4, 3.71). ... As part of his farewell tour, Rivera met with longtime Yankee Stadium employees before the game. Among them were ticket takers who have worked for the team for more than 40 years. ... Chamberlain and other Yankees greeted a faithful friend near the dugout during batting practice - Chase, a 12-year-old golden retriever. The dog has long worked for the Trenton Thunder, the Yankees' Double-A affiliate, fetching bats in the first inning and bringing them back to the dugout. Yankees INF David Adams petted Chase and recalled the pooch retrieving for him, without leaving any teeth marks in the wood. ''He's not chomping at the bit,'' Adams said. ''Or at the bat, either.'' ... Adams played 2B for the first time in the majors.

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