Bronx, NY (Sports Network) - Derek Jeter finished 2-for-5 with a solo homer and two RBI as the New York Yankees celebrated their 2010 home opener by surviving a ninth-inning rally by Los Angeles to take a 7-5 victory in the first of a three-game set from Yankee Stadium.
In Progress: Yankees Host Angels In Home Opener After Receiving World Series Rings
Andy Pettitte (1-0) hurled six scoreless innings, gave up just five hits, fanned six and walked three to post his 230th career victory. The Yankees won their third straight game and have begun their 2009 World Series title defense with five wins in seven.
“I was thankful that I was able to put together a good start,” said Pettitte of the pressure of starting a home-opener after a championship season. “This game, with the ring ceremony, is pressure-wise, harder than the World Series maybe with the exception of a Game 7. It was a special day for the organization, the fans and our team.”
Mariano Rivera recorded the final two outs to earn his third save.
Alex Rodriguez knocked in a pair while Nick Johnson homered and scored three times for New York, which had been trounced by Cleveland in the stadium's inaugural regular-season contest last April.
Bobby Abreu hit a grand slam and Kendry Morales added a solo homer for the Angels, who have dropped six of their first eight contests.
Ervin Santana (0-2) was tagged in defeat for eight hits and five runs, striking out seven but walking five over 5 2/3 frames.
David Robertson loaded the bases in the ninth on singles from Howie Kendrick and Brandon Wood and a bunt base hit from Jeff Mathis. After Erick Aybar fanned looking, Abreu launched an offering into the right-field seats that brought the Halos within 7-5.
Rivera was called on and closed out the game by striking out Torii Hunter and getting Hideki Matsui to pop out.
“We did too many things poorly early in the game,” said Angels manager Mike Scioscia. “We tried to crawl our way back but it was too little, too late. There’s a lot of stuff from this start we have to clean up over the next week, and hopefully we’ll go out tomorrow and give a more consistent effort in some ways we haven’t been so far.”
Johnson’s solo shot to right put the Yanks on the board in the home first, then Jeter deposited a ball beyond the wall in right-center to start the third for a 2-0 game.
New York tacked on another run in the fourth. With the bases loaded and one out, Brett Gardner’s grounder to short resulted in an out at home, but Jeter followed with a scorching RBI single to third.
Despite allowing a pair of one-out singles, Pettitte closed out the sixth and finished his outing by inducing an inning-ending double-play grounder from Kendrick to keep it a 3-0 game.
The Yankees increased their lead to 5-0 in the home sixth after an infield single by Rodriguez with the bases loaded scored two runs, but failed to tack on more after Jeter hit into a rally-killing double play with the sacks full in the seventh.
Morales got the Angels on the board with two down in the eighth with a second- deck shot to right against Chan Ho Park.
In the home half, Jorge Posada stroked an RBI double and Curtis Granderson knocked in another with a single but Posada was thrown out at home to end the inning.
Former Yankee centerfielder Bernie Williams threw out the first pitch...Posada's double in the seventh moved him past Mickey Mantle into seventh place on the Yanks' all-time list with 345...Matsui, the 2009 World Series MVP for the Bombers, went 0-for-5 with a strikeout in his return to the Bronx...Abreu connected for his ninth career grand slam...The last Angels' grand slam against the Yankees came on August 3, 2008 by Mark Teixeira.
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