NEW YORK

CC Sabathia found himself in trouble as soon as he stepped on the mound Tuesday night.

The veteran left-hander was able to escape an early jam, setting the tone for the rest of the game.

Sabathia recovered from a shaky start to pitch six innings, Brett Gardner had a pair of tying hits and the New York Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins 5-2 to ensure their sixth straight series win.

“Luckily my stuff was pretty good coming out of the bullpen because I had to make some pitches,” Sabathia said. “Everything kind of happened so quick that you don’t really have time.”

With their ninth victory in 11 games, the Yankees remained three games behind AL East-leading Boston and opened a six-game lead over the Twins for the top AL wild card. At 84-67, the Yankees are 17 games over .500 for the first time since September 2015.

“We’re three games back, so kind of have our backs against the wall a little bit,” Gardner said about the division race. “But we’ve been playing really good baseball and we just need to continue to do that and keep the pressure on them, make them keep winning.”

Minnesota, which is 1? games ahead of the Los Angeles Angels for the second AL wild card, has lost four of five.

Pitching on seven days’ rest in a game that started 65 minutes late because of rain, Sabathia (12-5) allowed Minnesota to load the bases on his first four pitches. He fell behind 1-0 and 2-1 but hung on and allowed six hits with one walk and five strikeouts. He retired 10 in a row during one stretch.

“I felt good,” the 37-yearold Sabathia said. “At this point in my career, all the rest I can get is good rest for me.”

Sabathia stranded the bases loaded in the sixth when Gardner caught Eddie Rosario’s wind-assisted fly just in front of the left-field wall.