The Yanks got a scare last night when an Adam Jones line drive caught Joba Chamberlain on the outside of his right knee in the top of the first inning. Chamberlain picked up the ball and retired Jones at first base for the second out of the game, but was in obvious pain. He initially convinced his manager and trainer to leave him in the game, but after giving up singles to the next two batters and hobbling a bit on his way to back up third base after the latter, he was pulled.

Fortunately, X-rays on the knee were negative. Chamberlain was diagnosed with nothing more than a bruise and, while Joe Girardi labeled him day-to-day, Joba is confident that he’ll be able to make his next start on Tuesday.

Alfredo Aceves relieved Chamberlain, stranding both runners in the first. The Yankees then jumped all over Adam Eaton, scoring four runs in the bottom of the first on doubles by Derek Jeter, Robinson Cano (hitting second in place of an achy Johnny Damon), Mark Teixeira, and Melky Cabrera (who was then caught between second and third for the final out of the inning). After Aceves worked a scoreless second, the Yanks added two more on a two-run homer by Cano.

Aceves, who had pitched two scoreless innings on Wednesday night, pitched two more scoreless frames before yielding to Jonathan Albaladejo. Albaladejo gave up a solo homer to Brian Roberts on his very first pitch in the fifth inning, but Hideki Matsui got that run right back with a solo homer off Eaton in the bottom of the inning.

That made it 7-1 Yankees after five. The Orioles chipped away a bit, putting up two more runs on Albaladejo in the sixth and driving him from the game with a Nick Markakis solo homer in the seventh, but Jose Veras pitched out of a two-out jam of his own making in the eighth, and Mariano Rivera sealed the deal in the ninth, giving the Yankees a 7-4 win and extending their winning streak to nine games. Alfredo Aceves, who extended his scoreless streak to 9 1/3 innings, picked up his third, and most deserved, win of the current winning streak. Meanwhile, the Red Sox completed a sweep of the Blue Jays, putting the Yankees just 1.5 games out in the AL East with what is now the fourth-best record in the league.

As for Damon, he tweaked his neck leaping for Adam Jones’ homer on Wednesday night but isn’t expected to miss more than last night’s game. Meanwhile, Girardi did the right thing by pulling Joba last night. Even if all he had was a bruise, had Chamberlain altered his delivery to compensate for the pain in his knee, even unconsciously, he could have caused a more serious injury to his arm. As it was, the Yankees won the game anyway, and should now have a fully healthy Joba ready to take his next turn. Special bonus: the early exit saved him six innings or so toward his allotted regular season total.

Finally, the Yankees announced before the game that Chien-Ming Wang will start for Scranton today and Phil Hughes will make his next scheduled start in the majors on Monday. Said Girardi of Wang, “We just want him to have the stuff [in a game] that he had in the bullpen.” Remember, when Wang was struggling in early April, he would look good in the pen, then have nothing on the mound. Given Hughes’ continued improvement, this is very much the right decision, as well.