His swing is so effective, the Twins never worried about when Joe Mauer would finally drive a ball over the fence. True, they never suspected it would be June, but they weren't concerned.

Still, there was a sense of relief after the Twins' 6-5 victory Monday that all the public fretting about Mauer's lack of power could finally be put aside. Mauer launched an Andy Pettitte fastball high over the right-field baggie Monday in the Twins' 6-5 victory over New York.

"It's been a long time, huh?" Mauer joked. "Now I can get (Adam) Everett off my back."

The light-hitting shortstop collected a home run in April, making it easy to draw unflattering comparisons to Mauer, who has been among the league batting leaders all season but had never connected on a deep one.

When Pettitte kept going inside during Mauer's first three at-bats Monday, however, the catcher came to the plate in the seventh inning with an idea. "I just decided I was going to look for something in and get the head of the bat out front," he said. A 1-1 fastball came in high but in a good spot, and "I put a good swing on it. I wasn't trying to go deep, but I'm glad it went over."

It won't be the last time, manager Ron Gardenhire said. "He's got such a great swing, just let him keep swinging. He'll turn on some balls," Gardenhire said. "Probably turn on about 14 more of those. I figure about 15 for the year -- see if I'm wrong at the end."

TWINS 6, YANKEES 5: Michael Cuddyer prevented a Yankees rally with his arm, then started one with his bat, helping the Twins salvage a split of a four-game series with New York. Cuddyer fielded Derek Jeter's eighth-inning hit off the baggie in right field, turned and threw Jeter out at second base. He led off the bottom of the inning with a double in nearly the same spot, then scored on Delmon Young's third double of the night. Young and Cuddyer each collected three hits, helping the Twins rally from behind three different times.

Copyright (C) 2008 The Sports Xchange. All Rights Reserved.