No. 600 eludes Alex Rodriguez, whose three RBIs help Yankees beat Indians 11-4

A-Rod has three RBIs, but no No. 600 in Yanks win

CLEVELAND — Alex Rodriguez drove in three runs without hitting his 600th homer and the New York Yankees used a seven-run seventh inning to beat the Cleveland Indians 11-4 Thursday night.

Dustin Moseley (1-0) won his first start, allowing a run and four hits over six innings as New York took three of four in a lopsided series that saw A-Rod extend his homerless streak to seven games.

Robinson Cano connected for his 20th homer just after Rodriguez grounded out in the seventh. That started a string of nine straight Yankees reaching safely with two outs. Curtis Granderson and Rodriguez each had two-run singles — both off Joe Smith — in the seven-run rally.

Rodriguez batted with the bases loaded three times and twice brought the crowd to its feet with long fly balls. He hit a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to center in the third to tie the score 1-all and flied to right with two on in the fifth.

Brett Gardner drew a leadoff walk from rookie reliever Frank Herrmann (0-1) and eventually scored on a single by Derek Jeter to break the tie in the sixth. Six Indians pitchers walked a season-high 12 before infielder Andy Marte worked a perfect ninth. The crowd chanted, “Andy, Andy,” after he fanned Nick Swisher for the second out.

Marte became the 21st non-pitcher to take the mound for Cleveland and first position player since catcher Tim Laker in 2004.

After going oh-for Cleveland, Rodriguez will take his quest for homer history to Tampa Bay for a three-game series against the second-place Rays, who trail New York by two games in the AL East.

Fans buzzed in anticipation each time Rodriguez came up during the series. They cheered loudly each time he failed. A-Rod went 3 for 17 in the series that drew 112,060, including Thursday’s crowd of 34,455 that was the largest at Progressive Field since opening day.

The Indians went ahead 1-0 on a sacrifice fly by Austin Kearns in the first and scored three runs in the ninth off Chan Ho Park.

Four of Moseley’s nine career wins are against Cleveland. He worked in place of Andy Pettitte, who went on the disabled list July 20 with a strained groin. Sergio Mitre had one start and was hit hard.

Indians starter Mitch Talbot walked Rodriguez and two others to load the bases in the second. He got Francisco Cervelli to hit a one-hopper back to him and turned an inning-ending double play.

Talbot left with a mid-back injury after yielding a single and making two pitches to Jeter in the third.

Rodriguez thrilled the crowd for an instant later that inning by slamming a 3-2 pitch from Rafael Perez to center with the bases loaded. It fell short of the warning track but was plenty deep to be a tying sac fly.

That was the only run New York mustered through five innings, despite putting the first two runners on base four straight times.

NOTES: New York is 22-11 in series finales this season, winning its last 11 in a row. … Indians rookie C Carlos Santana left after seven innings. He crumpled to the ground after a pitch by Smith hit him squarely on the left knee. He finished that inning. … Smith yielded four runs in one-third of an inning after not allowing any earned runs over 14 appearances since June 28. … Rodriguez went 1 for 8 against four different rookies in the series. … Indians RHP Kerry Wood pitched a scoreless inning for Double-A Akron. The closer, out since July 11 with a blistered right index finger, threw eight pitches, all strikes. … Cleveland is 3 for 54 with runners in scoring position over the last eight games.