Yankees End Pineiro’s Winning Streak, Beat Angels

Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano supplied the early offense that ended Joel Pineiro’s seven-game winning

New York Yankees' Mark Teixeira runs to first after hitting a two-RBI single during the third inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday, July 21, 2010 in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

streak, and the New York Yankees beat the Los Angeles Angels 10-6 Wednesday to split their two-game series.

Rookie pinch-hitter Colin Curtis, who inherited an 0-2 count after Brett Gardner was ejected, added a three-run homer in the seventh inning that made it 10-5. Cano and Juan Miranda also connected for the Yankees, who finished 4-4 against the Angels this season after defeating them in last year’s AL championship series.

Pitching on 10 days’ rest, Javier Vazquez (8-7) nearly squandered a six-run cushion, withering quickly in the sweltering humidity on an 88-degree afternoon that felt like hot soup. But the right-hander hung on just long enough — with major help from the bullpen — for his 150th career win, becoming the third active pitcher to beat all 30 major league teams.

The Yankees said San Francisco’s Barry Zito and Philadelphia’s Jamie Moyer are the others, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Bobby Wilson and ex-Yankee Hideki Matsui each hit a two-run homer for Los Angeles. Matsui’s drive cut it to 6-5 in the sixth, but David Robertson and Joba Chamberlain wriggled out of jams to keep New York ahead. Mariano Rivera worked a perfect ninth.

Pineiro (10-7) was 7-0 with a 2.51 ERA in his previous eight starts, but 10 of his first 21 batters got hits as the Yankees built a 6-0 lead. Teixeira doubled twice and drove in three runs, Cano hit a two-run shot and Derek Jeter had three hits and scored three times.

Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez went 0 for 5 with an RBI groundout, remaining at 598 home runs.

Miranda hit a solo shot off Scot Shields in the seventh to make it 7-5. Curtis Granderson singled and went to third on Francisco Cervelli’s hit-and-run single off the glove of leaping second baseman Howie Kendrick before Gardner was ejected for arguing a strike call by plate umpire Paul Emmel.

Curtis took over, worked the count full and hit a line drive just over the right-field fence for his first major league homer, prompting a curtain call from the crowd of 47,521.

Los Angeles has dropped eight of 10 on the road. The Angels, who began the day five games behind the first-place Rangers in the AL West, open a four-game series at Texas on Thursday night with Jered Weaver on the mound against Cliff Lee in a marquee pitching matchup.

Teixeira hustled for a first-inning double that set up Rodriguez’s run-scoring groundout. The switch-hitting slugger has reached base safely in a career-best 37 consecutive games, the longest streak by a Yankees player since Rodriguez got to 53 straight in 2004.

Jeter led off the third with an infield single to the shortstop hole that was bobbled by Erick Aybar, who tried to backhand the ball. Nick Swisher doubled and Teixeira hit a two-run single. One out later, Cano homered into the New York bullpen for a 5-0 lead.

Jeter and Swisher opened the fourth with singles before Teixeira sliced a double into the left-field corner, making it 6-0.

Teixeira also made a tough, backhand stab of Matsui’s hard smash to first in the second.

Matsui, last year’s World Series MVP for the Yankees, also homered in the Angels’ 10-2 victory Tuesday night. Entering the series, he had one home run since June 7.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.