Bill Kostroun / AP

Bobby Abreu, right, is greeted at the plate by Yankees teammates Johnny Damon (18) and Derek Jeter after hitting a three-run home run in the first inning against the Devil Rays on Tuesday.

“I felt better today. I felt more comfortable out there,” he said.

New York (87-56) won its fourth straight and moved 31 games over .500 for the first time this season. The Devil Rays (56-86), falling like leaves from trees, dropped 30 games under .500 for the first time this year.

“They’ve got this whole juggernaut thing going when they’re getting ready for the playoff season,” Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said.

Abreu became the first Yankees player with six RBIs in an inning since Gil McDougald in the ninth on May 3, 1951, at the St. Louis Browns, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, and the first major leaguer with six RBIs in the first since Oakland’s Matt Stairs had a grand slam and a two-run single against the California Angels on July 5, 1996.

Abreu, who has 31 RBIs in 41 games since the Yankees acquired him from Philadelphia, had 11 runners on base in his four at-bats. He homered on the first pitch he saw from starter Tim Corcoran (4-8) for a 3-0 lead, a drive off an advertisement board attached to the bottom of the upper deck in right field.

Coming to the plate as the 12th batter of the first inning, Abreu doubled off reliever Brian Stokes to make it 9-0, the ball going just over the outstretched glove of left fielder Carl Crawford deep in the left-center gap.

Abreu’s bases-loaded sacrifice fly set a career high for RBIs in a game — on Aug. 24, 1999, he hit a pair of three-run homers in Philadelphia’s 18-2 rout of San Diego. His fourth-inning flyout was caught by Delmon Young, who was just in front of the right-field wall.

“If it’s earlier, it’s probably a home run with the warmer weather,” Torre said.

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Corcoran gave up seven runs, five hits and two walks, getting his only out when Jason Giambi flied to left. He is 0-8 since beating the Yankees on July 9.

“I didn’t even give myself a chance to get anything going. It just snowballed,” Corcoran said.

Notes: New York, 9-3 against Tampa Bay this year, had not scored nine runs in the first inning since June 5, 1988, when it won 9-2 at Baltimore. ... Down 12-0, Tampa Bay scored in the ninth when Dioner Navarro and Ben Zobrist hit a two-run singles off Octavio Dotel. ... Miguel Cairo entered for New York at 2B in the seventh. He had been sidelined since Aug. 5 with a strained left hamstring. ... Only Lou Gehrig (13) and Babe Ruth (11) had more 100-run seasons with the Yankees than Jeter.

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