(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-08-11 18:37

NEW YORK, Aug 10 - Alex Rodriguez homered and a pair of New York rookies pitched impressively to help the Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians 6-1 on Friday.

The road win, the Yankees' ninth in 11 games, moved them to within five games of the American League East-leading Boston Red Sox.

Cleveland held on to the Central Division lead despite the loss.

Rodriguez hit his 501th career homer and 37th of the season in the second inning and walked twice.

Yankees starter Phil Hughes dominated the Indians, giving up four hits and one run, a fifth-inning home run by Josh Barfield, in six innings.

The 21-year-old struck out six in his fourth Major League start.

Joba Chamberlain, also 21, then struck out four in two innings of relief work before Mariano Rivera pitched the ninth.

Hughes and Chamberlain are two of the youngest pitchers in the Major Leagues, but they impressed veteran pitcher Andy Pettitte and other Yankees team mates.

"Their stuff is incredible," Pettitte told reporters.

Rodriguez described the pair as "two young kids with great arms and a bright future."

"We've seen Phil (Hughes) and we've seen he's capable," Rodriguez told reporters. "But this other kid (Chamberlain), wow. That's pretty darn electric stuff."

New York, meanwhile, collected 10 hits with Derek Jeter going 3-for-4.

Bobby Abreu drove in two of the Yankees' runs with a third-inning fielder's choice and an eighth-inning triple. Serving a one-game MLB suspension after Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens hit Toronto's Alex Rios with a pitch on Tuesday, New York manager Joe Torre was made to watch the game from a private box.

* Nick Markakis's ninth-inning sacrifice fly lifted the Baltimore Orioles to a 6-5 win over the Boston Red Sox. Boston's Daisuke Matsuzaka allowed only one run and struck out seven in seven innings, but Eric Gagne, who relieved him, gave up three runs in the eighth and the Orioles tied the score against Hideki Okajima later in the inning.

* Shaun Marcum had a no-hitter through two outs in the seventh inning in the Toronto Blue Jays' 2-1 win over the Kansas City Royals. Billy Butler's infield single broke up the no-hit bid and Marcum left the game with leg problems.

* Jack Cust drove in seven runs and Travis Buck had four hits as the Oakland Athletics beat the Detroit Tigers 16-10, their seventh loss in 10 games.