Bronx, NY (Sports Network) – Robinson Cano belted a grand slam and CC Sabathia continued his success at Yankee Stadium, as New York pounded Seattle, 10-0, in a series finale that was interrupted by rain.
Sabathia (17-5), the American League’s first 17-game winner, scattered three hits and struck out eight over six innings to improve to 10-0 at home this year. He has now won 15 straight decisions at Yankee Stadium dating back to the 2009 All-Star break. Sabathia hasn’t lost a regular-season game at home since July 2 of last season, when the Mariners scored six runs off the left- hander en route to an 8-4 triumph.
Sunday’s win gave the first-place Yankees a 1 1/2 game lead over Tampa Bay in the AL East. The Rays are currently playing in Oakland.
Austin Kearns hit a solo home run off Seattle starter Luke French (2-4) with two outs in the fourth to snap the scoreless deadlock.
Franklin Gutierrez opened the fifth with a double for the first Mariners hit off Sabathia, but was called out at the plate trying to score on Adam Moore’s one-out single. He should have been ruled safe because New York catcher Jorge Posada had the ball in his right hand when he tagged Gutierrez with his glove.
The Yankees blew the game open in the bottom of the inning. Derek Jeter drew a one-out walk and Nick Swisher followed with a fly ball to right field that Ichiro Suzuki couldn’t reel in before colliding with the wall.
Mark Teixeira was then intentionally walked to load the bases, setting the stage for Cano, who sent the first pitch he saw from French to the seats in right-center for his fourth career grand slam.
Heavy rain brought out the tarp after the top of the sixth.
When play resumed following a 57-minute delay, Chris Seddon replaced French on the mound and yielded a sacrifice fly to Jeter and a two-run single to Cano in the bottom of the sixth.
Kerry Wood was the new pitcher for the Yankees in the seventh.
Posada added a solo home run off Brian Sweeney in the home half of the seventh and Marcus Thames recorded a run-scoring single off Brandon League in the eighth to extend New York’s lead to 10-0.
Cano upped his home run total to 25 this season, matching his career high set in 2009…French gave up five runs on five hits and as many walks…The Yankees improved to 12-0 without third baseman Alex Rodriguez out of the lineup. Rodriguez was placed on the 15-day disabled list Saturday with a strained left calf…New York took six of 10 from Seattle in the season series.