By Tim Britton / MLB.com NEW YORK -- Like so many of the games the Yankees and Twins have grown accustomed to playing, Friday night's series opener featured multiple lead changes in a taut affair that could have gone either way. Like nearly all of its predecessors, however, this one went to the Yankees. Alex Rodriguez's seventh-inning go-ahead grand slam was the difference as the Yankees continued their mastery of the Twins, beating Minnesota for the 11th consecutive time, 8-4. And many of those wins have come, as Friday night's did, with a late-inning rally. Trailing, 4-3, in the seventh, the Yankees started their rally with a pair of well-placed hits. Francisco Cervelli beat out an infield single behind second base before Derek Jeter hit a line drive off the knee of pitcher Scott Baker and into shallow right field for a double. Brian Duensing induced a shallow flyout from Brett Gardner and intentionally walked Mark Teixeira to set the stage for Rodriguez to face Matt Guerrier. Rodriguez fouled off the first pitch before belting a fastball out to left-center field for his fourth home run of the season and 19th career grand slam. It was also his fourth home run off Guerrier in seven career at-bats against the reliever. With a trio of regulars out of the lineup -- including Nick Swisher, who departed in the fourth after aggravating his left biceps -- the Yankees relied on contributions from the top of their order. Rodriguez's homer was but the capper on a night that saw Gardner and Teixeira combine for four hits, four runs scored and a pair of RBIs. The rally took A.J. Burnett and especially Damaso Marte off the hook. Burnett allowed three runs (two earned) on seven hits in 6 2/3 innings. He walked four men, all on four pitches, including one to force in a run in the second. Still, he left with the lead before Marte surrendered back-to-back run-scoring hits to Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau in the seventh to put the Yankees behind. Marte, in fact, was ruled "brief and ineffective" by the official scorer, meaning Joba Chamberlain earned the win for his 1-2-3 eighth inning.
