Hot Rod: Rodriguez blasts lead Yanks past Tribe, 11-2

Cleveland is just 13-16 since the All-Star break.

CLEVELAND (AP) — Alex Rodriguez kept up his unrelenting surge against the Cleveland Indians — six homers in five games — and New York cruised to an 11-2 victory Saturday night that gave Mike Mussina his 100th win with the Yankees.

Rodriguez hit a pair of two-run homers as the hottest team in the majors did everything right. Jason Giambi added a pinch-hit homer and Jose Molina had a career-high four hits.

New York moved 14 games over .500 (65-51) for the first time this season, an emphatic turnaround for a team that was stranded 141⁄2 games out of first place on May 29. The Yankees have stormed into contention in the AL East — five games back of Boston — by going 22-8 since the All-Star break, best in the majors.

By contrast, the AL Central-leading Indians are 13-16 since the break.

Rodriguez’s two-run homer completed a seven-run second inning off Paul Byrd (10-5) that sapped the energy out of the fourth capacity crowd at Jacobs Field this season. A-Rod’s 503rd career homer, off Edward Mujica in the eighth, completed his fifth multihomer game this season and the 49th of his career.

Pitching prowess

It was more than enough for the 38-year-old Mussina (8-7), who became the 16th pitcher to win 100 games for the Yankees. The right-hander won his fourth straight start, allowing two runs and eight hits in 72⁄3 innings. For the third straight game, he didn’t walk a batter.

Mussina is only the ninth pitcher in major league history to win 100 for two teams — he had 147 victories with Baltimore.

Against the Indians this season, the Yankees are 5-0 with a swagger. They swept three games in New York when they were struggling in April, and are one victory from doing it again in August.

Byrd threw a shutout against the Twins on Monday, but couldn’t make it past the second inning against one of the majors’ most powerful lineups. The Yankees have scored at least six runs in 10 of their last 12 games.

They’ve done it with balance, some bashing and a big dose of A-Rod.

The youngest player to reach 500 career homers has hit at least one in each of the five games against Cleveland this season. He got an errant full-count pitch from Byrd in the second inning and hit it over the wall in center, putting the final touch on New York’s seven-run, 10-batter outburst.

Anyone who has followed the Indians knew it was over.

Cleveland inducted four players into its Hall of Fame before the game, including Andre Thornton, who played from 1977-87 when the Indians had trouble winning games and scoring runs.

Kind of like now.

The AL Central leaders ended one amazing slump when Victor Martinez hit a sacrifice fly in the first inning — the first time the Indians had scored in the opening inning since July 17, a streak of 23 games.

Then, it was back to usual. Cleveland’s offense has been its second-half downfall, scoring two runs or less in 11 of the last 19 games.