With rain falling at the beginning, Wright walked his first two batters, barely missing on a 3-2 pitch to leadoff hitter Grady Sizemore, who scored on Victor Martinez’s RBI groundout.

The Yankees went ahead in the bottom of the first on Rodriguez’s RBI single and Posada’s sacrifice fly. Then they broke it open with a six-run second.

“It kind of settled me down a little more, just to be able to relax and go right after these guys,” Wright said.

Mientkiewicz hit a solo shot with one out, his first home run in 94 at-bats since June 30 with Kansas City at St. Louis. Johnny Damon doubled and scored on Bobby Abreu’s hard-hit single off the glove of first baseman Ryan Garko.

Rodriguez’s two-run drive gave him 21 RBIs, most in the majors. He owns a 17-game hitting streak dating to last season, and has at least one extra-base hit in 11 of his first 12 games this year.

“Just not trying to do too much,” Rodriguez said when asked about the key to his big start.

Posada’s two-run shot made it 8-1 and chased Westbrook.

Aided by a pair of errors, the Yankees added two runs in the seventh.

Notes: Rodriguez had 16 RBIs in April last season. ... Martinez had been out since April 6 with a strained left quadriceps. ... Public address announcer Bob Sheppard celebrated the 56th anniversary of his Yankee Stadium debut. ... The Indians have lost 15 of their last 18 games at Yankee Stadium. ... 3B Andy Marte made two of Cleveland’s three errors. ... Flags at Yankee Stadium were at half-staff following the tragedy at Virginia Tech.

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