Rally time

The Yankees finally had a late-inning comeback this afternoon. They picked a great time to do it, as they were able to sweep Seattle and extend their winning streak to five games.

Trailing 5-2, here's how the bottom of the eighth inning went:

With Sean Green in the game, Derek Jeter walked. Lefty Arthur Rhodes then came in to face Bobby Abreu, who doubled to cap off an extended at-bat to drive in Jeter. Before today's game, Rhodes had given up 31 runs in 46 2-3 innings at Yankee Stadium in his career.

Rhodes was taken out right after for closer J.J. Putz. Alex Rodriguez walked and Jason Giambi struck out. Hideki Matsui, pinch hitting for Shelley Duncan, bounced a pitch back to Putz who had to field it on his stomach. He threw the ball away, which allowed Abreu to score and advance Rodriguez to third with one out. Robinson Cano hit a sacrifice fly to center to tie the game at 5 and advance Matsui to second. With two out, Jose Molina doubled to right-center to give the Yankees a 6-5 lead.

Mariano Rivera retired the Mariners in order in the ninth for his 12th save of the season.

Chien-Ming Wang struggled (6.1 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, 1 HRA), but the Yankees were able to overcome his start in the later innings for the first time this season. They had been 1-23 when trailing after seven innings, but they hadn't come back from a three-run deficit.

Edwar Ramirez recorded his first victory of the season, as he pitched 1 2-3 scoreless innings, striking out two and surrendering two hits.

The Yankees are now back to .500 at 25-25 and will travel to Baltimore for a three-game series that starts tomorrow afternoon.