By Nina Mandell
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez watched his two-run homer off lefty David Aardsma sail out of the park and turned to await his teammates come celebrate him breaking the 2-2 tie to take the Yankees past the Mariners, 4-2 in the ninth.
But no one rushed on the field — it was only the eighth inning.
"I thought I hit a much bigger home run than I actually did," Rodriguez said according to the New York Post. "I hit it and looked at A.J. [Burnett] and [Andy] Pettitte and they weren't jumping over the railing. At that point I thought we probably had one more half-inning to play. Pretty embarrassing."
Half an inning later, the shot to the outfield was enough to win the game for the Yankees and give C.C. Sabathia a good start to July and a third-straight win.
After a solo shot from Robinson Cano in the fourth gave the Bronx Bombers a 2-0 lead, the Mariners tied it up in the eighth inning when the ball sailed past Jorge Posada and two runs — one earned — came in.
“I was the happiest over [A-Rod’s homer],” said Posada according to the Post. “You don’t want to put C.C. in that situation. I was mad.”
The win snapped a two-game losing streak for the Yankees who hold a 1.5 game lead over Boston in the AL East.
It also stopped the Yankees from their first-ever sweep in their new stadium.
“You never want to get swept,” Sabathia told reporters.
