A-Rod hurt

[Raji]

The last few innings were just as costly to the New York Yankees as they were to the Seattle Mariners. Maybe more so.

Alex Rodriguez turned an ankle in the seventh and Chien-Ming Wang walked off the mound gingerly with a stiff lower back an inning later, in the midst of a run-scoring barrage that sent the wild card-leading Yankees to a 12-3 victory over the Mariners on Tuesday night.

Wang smothered Seattle to get his 17th win and tie Boston's Josh Beckett for the major league lead. Jorge Posada homered twice, and A-Rod and Bobby Abreu also homered for New York - with Rodriguez hitting a rare drive into the left-field upper deck.

Rodriguez was hurt during a seven-run seventh inning, when he slid into Adrian Beltre. The Seattle third baseman toppled backward, turning A-Rod's ankle. Rodriguez came out at the end of the inning, and postgame X-rays were negative.

''It's a little sore right now,'' said Rodriguez, who was uncertain whether he'd be available to play Wednesday night. ''I'll see how I feel in the morning.''

Oddsmakers have the Yanks listed at -165 against Seattle (+157) Wednesday night.

The injury to Wang is particularly troublesome because fellow Yankees starter Roger Clemens was already scheduled to receive a cortisone shot Wednesday for his sore right elbow.

Yankees manager Joe Torre said the wait to come back during New York's big seventh likely contributed to Wang's tightness. But Wang said he was confident he'd be ready for his next turn in the rotation. Because of two off days, he isn't scheduled to pitch again until next week at Toronto.

In other AL games, it was Boston 5, Toronto 3; the Los Angeles Angels 4, Oakland 3; Cleveland 7, Minnesota 5; the Chicago White Sox 3, Detroit 1; Baltimore 8, Tampa Bay 4; and Texas 9, Kansas City 8.

Posada, Abreu and Robinson Cano had four hits each for the Yankees, who had 20 hits and broke open the game with three runs in the sixth and seven more in the seventh to make it 11-1.

With a victory in Wednesday's series finale, New York would open a three-game wild-card lead with 3 1/2 weeks to play. New York had lost three of four since sweeping Boston.

Seattle lost for the 10th time in 11 games and was ensured of leaving town trailing the Yankees.

''We just got to bounce back (Wednesday),'' manager John McLaren said. ''Two out, and all we need to do is get that streak we're looking for, get that streak at the right time.''

Wang (17-6) allowed one run and five hits in 7 1-3 innings, throwing just 86 pitches. Inducing inning-ending, double-play grounders in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings, Wang improved to 8-2 when pitching following Yankees' losses this season. He has won his last six starts in that situation, and is 6-0 against the Mariners in his career.

Beltre ended Wang's shutout bid with a seventh-inning homer - only the second by a right-handed hitter against Wang this year and the first he allowed to a right-hander at Yankee Stadium since Florida's Miguel Olivo connected on June 23, 2006.

Posada put the Yankees ahead with a leadoff homer in the second off Horacio Ramirez (8-5), and Rodriguez hit his major league-leading 46th homer to make it 2-0 in the sixth, a drive that landed about seven rows deep in the upper deck.

''It doesn't matter where it lands,'' Rodriguez said. ''It only counts for one run.''

Raji