The New York Yankees defeated the Minnesota Twins for the second-straight night 8-4 Tuesday night, thanks to an Alex Rodriguez grand slam.

Rookie right-hander Nick Rumbelow earned his first career win tonight. He was called up today with Chris Capuano after the Yankees put Bryan Mitchell on the 7-day concussion DL. The losing pitcher for Minnesota was J.R. Graham.

It’s the Yankees 13th series win at home this season. C.C. Sabathia had a no-hitter going through 4.2 in this game. Sabathia ended his outing going 6.2 innings allowing four runs on five hits, while walking three and striking out five. The Yankees have now won five out of their last six games.

Twins starter Mike Pelfrey lasted 5.1 innings giving up only one run on five hits, while walking one and striking out four.

The Yankees got on the board first in this one in the bottom of the fourth when Greg Bird singled home Carlos Beltran. The Twins would start beating up on the Yankees a little bit in the fifth inning when Kurt Suzuki doubled to the corner in left scoring Trevor Plouffe. On the same play, Yankee shortstop Didi Gregorious threw out Eduardo Escobar trying to score at home plate.

The Twins would take the lead in the seventh when Miguel Sanó homered off C.C. Sabathia scoring Joe Mauer. The Twins would tack on one more when Shane Robinson singled home Eduardo Escobar to make it 4-1.

New York would battle back, however, in the bottom of the seventh after two walks and a single loaded the bases. After a pitching change by the Twins, Alex Rodriguez broke his 72 at-bat homer less streak in a grand way, depositing a grand slam from J.R. Graham into the Yankees bullpen to take a 5-4 lead. The grand salami was Rodriguez’s 25th in his career, extending his major league record.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Yankees would add three more runs. Chase Headley hit a double to right that brought Greg Bird and Didi Gregorious around to score. One batter later, Jacoby Ellsbury singled to right that scored Chase Headley.  

After the game Alex Rodriguez talked about the fan support after his big grand slam:

“The support, it’s incredible. It’s humbling. It’s weird you know these curtain calls, I never thought, I thought those days were way behind me, but it felt good and it certainly felt good to win this game. It was an important game for us.”

Joe Girardi talked about what a big hit like Rodriguez had today and it’s ability to get a player heating up:

“I think it gets you going. Sometimes it can get you going again. Even though these guys are great players, when you're going through a tough time, a little success helps. They're called 'personality hits.' They can help a little bit.”

He also talked about Mark Teixeira who injured his shin yesterday, “Yeah George (the man who asked the question) he’s still really sore. You won’t see him tomorrow. I mean you might see him, but you won’t see him in a game. As far as all the tests, all the tests came back negative today but he’s sore.”  

The Toronto Blue Jays took down the Philadelphia Phillies tonight so the AL East standings stay the same, with the Yankees up one game over the Jays. The Yankees and Twins play an afternoon game tomorrow at Yankee Stadium at 1:05 ET. Veteran right-hander Ervin Santana is going for the Twins trying to get the last game in this series. The Yankees send Nathan Eovaldi to hill trying to pull off the sweep.