Pettitte, Posada power Yanks past Twins

Mark Teixeira and Jorge Posada homered in a four-run seventh inning and Andy Pettitte tossed 6 1/3 shutout innings to fuel the Yankees to a 7-1 win.

Quick ‘Cap:
The Yankees gave Pettitte a 1-0 lead in the first and the team never looked back. In the second, Derek Jeter added an RBI single, his second hit in as many innings, and Marcus Thames made it 3-0 when he singled home Posada in the sixth, who hit a ground-rule double.

Pettitte breezed through most of his innings, except for the second, when he danced out of trouble by inducing a double play and snaring a comeback liner. He allowed a season-low two hits, walked three (two coming in the sixth) and struck out two.

Francisco Lirano came out after six quality innings, but Jesse Crain couldn’t hold down the Yankees’ bats. Crain led off the seventh by walking Nick Swisher, who chose to hit right-handed against the righty — most likely because of his biceps, and then allowing a towering homer to Teixeira that landed in the luxury suite in right. Twins-Yankees box score.

Thoughts:
Pettitte showed absolutely no signs of rust for pitching with nine days in between starts. The start restored my confidence in the overall greatness of the rotation. Meanwhile, Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez combined for four more hits. That’s a great sign.

Line of the Day:
Pettitte: W, 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 2 K. He’s 5-0 on the year, joining Phil Hughes in the “5-0 club.”

Up Next:
The Yankees can help make up for losing four of five by completing the sweep of the Twins on Sunday.