Major League Baseball

Yankees take sole possession of first

Published Sep. 5, 2012 1:00 a.m. ET

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Elliot Johnson had a long night for the Tampa Bay Rays.

Alex Rodriguez and the New York Yankees are heading to Baltimore for a key division series with some positive momentum.

New York went ahead with help from a Tampa Bay error, Russell Martin homered and had three RBIs, and the Yankees regained sole possession of first-place in the division with a 6-4 win over the Rays on Wednesday night.

Eliot Johnson's errant throw to home plate that led to two runs in the seventh inning lifted New York to its fifth win in 15 games.

''It's a break we got,'' Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. ''Hopefully (the victory) just propels us to play good baseball.''

New York sat atop the division standings by itself for 84 consecutive days - its longest streak since 2004 - until Tuesday night's 5-2 loss to Tampa Bay dropped the Yankees into a tie with Baltimore. They moved back into first place when the Orioles lost to Toronto 6-4. New York leads the Rays by 2 1-2 games.

''There's no question ... it's sink or swim time,'' Rodriguez said. ''In order for us to swim, we'll have to swim the right way. We're going to start playing the brand of baseball we started tonight.''

A-Rod had a run-scoring double in the fourth, his first RBI in three-games since returning from the disabled Monday.

The Yankees start a four-game series against manager Buck Showalter's Orioles on Thursday night at Camden Yards.

''Buck has them playing good baseball,'' New York shortstop Derek Jeter said. ''They're right there. It's going to be tough for us.''

Girardi said Jeter tweaked his ankle on Tuesday, but the Yankees captain said he is fine and that ''it's a non-issue.''

Andruw Jones and Steve Pearce singled to start the seventh off Matt Moore (10-9) before Jayson Nix moved the runners to second and third with a sacrifice bunt. Jeter, who had hits in his previous three at-bats, hit a grounder to Johnson. With the infield playing in, the second baseman's throw was off the mark allowing pinch-runner Ichiro Suzuki and Pearce to score as the Yankees took a 6-4 lead.

''It was the play that cost us the game,'' said Johnson, who made his first appearance at second since May 11. ''You never want to be in one those situations, you never want to be that guy, but I'm a grown man, I can handle this sort of stuff.''

Ben Zobrist drove in two runs for Tampa Bay, which had won four in a row.

''They're good ... they took advantage of our mistakes,'' Rays manager Joe Maddon said. ''Two out of three is not bad. I'll take it. Prior to this series, I would have signed up for it. We picked up a game and I think we picked up a lot of confidence, also.''

Jeter made a nice running, over-the-shoulder catch on Matt Joyce's flare with two on and two outs in the seventh.

''You have to anticipate, and you have to have good jumps,'' Girardi said.

Rafael Soriano pitched the ninth for his 36th save.

After blowing a two-run lead, the Yankees went up 4-3 on Martin's solo homer in the sixth. He had his batting average climb from .199 to .202.

''I feel like I've been swinging the bat better for the last couple of weeks,'' Martin said.

Tampa Bay quickly pulled even at 4 on Luke Scott's first long ball since July 19 off Hiroki Kuroda (13-10) later in the sixth.

After Rodriguez, who returned Monday after missing 36 games with a broken left hand, had an RBI double, Martin drove in a pair on a double that made it 3-1 in the fourth.

Evan Longoria put the Rays ahead 1-0 on an RBI single in the first inning. Tampa Bay tied it 3-all in the fifth when Zobrist hit a two-run triple.

Kuorda gave up four runs and eight hits in six innings. Moore allowed six runs and eight hits over 6 1-3 innings.

NOTES: The announced crowd was just 16,711. ... New York held a team meeting before the game in which Girardi said gave an opportunity ''to talk about some of the things that we're going through.'' ... The Yankees are not planning to use a lot of small ball to try and help their struggling offense. ''We're not the `Bronx Bunters,''' Girardi said. ... New York LHP Andy Pettitte (broken left ankle) threw 16-pitches in a simulated game and will face hitters again this weekend. ... Tampa Bay RHP Jeff Niemann (right shoulder) could pitch again before the regular season ends. ... Yankees 1B Mark Teixeira (left calf) could run on Thursday. ... New York RHP Ivan Nova (right shoulder) felt fine one day after throwing batting practice.

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