"Not many can say this, but Angels left-handed reliever Scott Downs has very rarely had a problem getting Robinson Cano out.

No longer.

Yesterday afternoon, with the score tied 2-2 in the seventh inning, Cano blasted a Downs sinker off Yankee Stadium's mezzanine molding in right field for a grand slam, giving the Yankees just enough for a 6-5 win.

"It's a great feeling," said Cano, who went 3-for-4 and had his second homer in as many games. "The pitcher made a mistake and we made him pay."

Going into the at-bat, Cano was 5-for-25 with no homers lifetime against Downs.

"He's a guy that throws cutter in, he goes away, and he's got a slow breaking ball," Cano said. "He's a guy you don't know what he's going to throw. It's not easy to see the ball coming out of his hand."

Downs was a big signing to boost the Angels bullpen this offseason, and has done his part by pitching to a 1.41 ERA and holding lefty hitters to a .153 average heading into yesterday. He even got Cano out in the eighth inning of the Angels' 6-4 win on Tuesday, having him ground out softly to second.

"The day before, he was all the way in, in, in," Cano said. "He threw the first one in [yesterday], and the last one was a little middle-inside."

With Alex Rodriguez still out of the lineup, Cano has more than done his part to power the offense. He is now 15-for-39 (.385) with 13 RBI in 10 games in the month of August."