By Bryan Hoch / MLB.com ST. PETERSBURG -- Jorge Posada connected for a pinch-hit home run leading off the 10th inning Tuesday, putting the Yankees back in first place in the American League East with an 8-7 victory over the Rays at Tropicana Field. Posada's tape-measure blast to dead center, his 18th of the season, came off Dan Wheeler after the Yankees had at one point held a 6-0 advantage in the contest, only to see it erased with a seven-run Rays fifth inning that knocked out rookie starter Ivan Nova. The winning pitcher was David Robertson, who set the Rays down in order in the ninth inning with help from Curtis Granderson, who made a terrific diving catch near the warning track to rob Ben Zobrist of an extra-base hit and send the game to extra innings. Mariano Rivera shut the Rays down for a save in the 10th -- aided by Greg Golson's game-ending throw to nail Carl Crawford at third base trying to advance on a fly ball to right field. The biggest Tampa Bay blows came in the fifth inning, in which Carlos Pena started unraveling Nova's first four sharp innings with a solo home run, his 27th, and John Jaso knocked an RBI single for the second Rays run. A pair of run-scoring hits by Evan Longoria and Matt Joyce chased Nova, and pinch-hitter Willy Aybar greeted reliever Boone Logan with a towering three-run homer to left field, giving the Rays their first lead of the night. The Yankees struck back to tie the game in the sixth. McGee walked Granderson to open the inning, then yielded to Jeremy Hellickson, who served up a run-scoring double to Robinson Cano -- the Yankees second baseman's 98th RBI of the season, marking a new career high. Having lost their hold on first place in the division with Monday's extra-inning loss, the Yankees jumped out to a 6-0 lead through their first five turns at bat, knocking out Rays starter Matt Garza. After being held scoreless through 11 frames by Rays pitchers in the series opener, New York got to Garza for four runs in the third inning Tuesday, as Mark Teixeira notched a sacrifice fly, Alex Rodriguez stroked a run-scoring single and Cano connected for a two-run homer, his 27th, coming on a full-count offering. The Yankees added two more runs in the fifth inning, knocking Garza from a six-run, nine-hit outing. A-Rod connected for his 23rd home run of the season, coming on a 3-1 pitch that the slugger dispatched over the wall in left-center field, and Francisco Cervelli worked a bases-loaded walk facing rookie Jake McGee, who made his Major League debut after being called up earlier in the day.
