NEW YORK -- Brandon McCarthys wife had more trouble slogging through Yankee Stadium traffic than he did against the Cincinnati Reds. McCarthy earned his first win for New York with an impressive debut in pinstripes, and Brett Gardner drove in three runs from the leadoff spot to send the Yankees past the Reds 7-1 on Saturday. Told his wife, Amanda, tweeted several wisecracks about all the highway congestion that delayed her arrival at the ballpark, McCarthy could only smile. "If everybody isnt apprised of what shes doing every few minutes, God knows what would happen," he said. Carlos Beltran homered, Kelly Johnson hit a two-run single and the Yankees ended Alfredo Simons six-game winning streak in the right-handers first outing since the All-Star game. Derek Jeter had an RBI single, and New York won the first two in a three-game interleague series, leaving Cincinnati with five straight road losses. "I think this is kind of a blip in the radar, but we certainly need to turn things around if we want to get that game tomorrow," Reds manager Bryan Price said. Acquired from Arizona in a July 6 trade, McCarthy (1-0) struck out nine and walked none over six innings in his second start for New York and first at home. He said the Yankees have encouraged him to throw his cutter, a pitch he was instructed to scrap with the Diamondbacks. "Hes got top-of-the-rotation stuff, and were really glad to have him," catcher Brian McCann said. "He was doing whatever he wanted to on the mound today." McCarthy threw 71 of 99 pitches for strikes, improving to 3-0 with a 1.78 ERA in his last four outings after winning only once in his initial 16 starts this season. "Actually, that was the frustrating part about the beginning part of the season is, I felt sharp," McCarthy said. "I felt like everything was where I wanted it to be, I just wasnt doing everything I needed to to get the best out of it. So I felt like Ive thrown better this year than any year in the past, its just the results havent followed." The right-hander was 3-10 with a 4.80 ERA for Arizona before New York obtained him to upgrade a rotation depleted by injuries to four starters. His first outing for the Yankees was a no-decision July 9 at Cleveland. "You realize that youre putting the pinstripes on for the first time, but I try and wash all that away as much as I can and just focus on execution, focus on my routine, what Im doing. All that stuff I can think about later," McCarthy said. "I mean, youre pitching for the Yankees, and thats an opportunity no matter what the circumstances are. For me, its at a point in my career where I want to be challenged. I really want to be in a pennant race. I wanted to be closer to the playoffs. I wanted to be in a market that is difficult. I wanted that kind of stuff to see if I could push myself to the next level, so its a great opportunity in that sense." A converted reliever, the surprising Simon (12-4) is tied for the big league lead in wins -- but he was betrayed Saturday by a Reds defence that entered with the highest fielding percentage and fewest errors in the majors. The right-hander allowed four runs -- two earned -- and five hits in five innings, the first time he failed to finish six innings since going 3 2-3 in a 6-3 loss at Dodger Stadium on May 27. He went 6-0 with a 2.47 ERA in his next eight starts. Chris Heisey homered for the Reds, struggling to mount much offence this weekend without injured boppers Joey Votto and Brandon Phillips. Adam Warren, Shawn Kelley and Matt Thornton finished for the Yankees, who struck out 13. It was the first time they whiffed that many without issuing a walk since July 7, 2006, at Tampa Bay. Cincinnati has struck out 23 times and walked once in the first two games of the series. "Weve got to pick it up a little bit," Todd Frazier said. "Thats not where we want to be." NOTES: Simon fell to 0-3 in seven games, including four starts, against the Yankees. ... McCarthy entered 0-2 with a 14.73 ERA in two starts and one relief appearance against Cincinnati. He had a 6.89 ERA in three previous starts at Yankee Stadium. ... Before the game, Frazier and Reds President of Baseball Operations Walt Jocketty gave Jeter framed jerseys autographed by the clubs two captains, Dave Concepcion and Barry Larkin. Jeter also was presented with three photos taken June 3, 2003, the day he was named the 11th Yankees captain while the team was in Cincinnati. ... Looking to avoid a three-game sweep, Cincinnati sends another All-Star to the mound Sunday when RHP Johnny Cueto (10-6, 2.13 ERA) faces RHP Hiroki Kuroda (6-6, 4.10). Custom Nike Los Angeles Dodgers Jerseys . -- A year ago, Flavia Pennetta was close to retiring from tennis. Custom Nike Los Angeles Angels Jerseys . Judging by his performance Saturday night, Cotto has plenty left in the tank. Cotto became the first Puerto Rican fighter to win world championships in four weight divisions, stopping Sergio Martinez in their WBC world middleweight title fight Saturday night. https://www.customjerseysnikebaseball.co...illies-jerseys/. -- LeGarrette Blount made one last big splash into a soggy end zone. Custom Nike Kansas City Royals Jerseys . Tepesch, back from the minor leagues, earned his first major league victory in more than 10 months and the Rangers edged the Seattle Mariners 4-3 on Wednesday. Custom Nike Baseball Jerseys Fake . The future hall of famers stole the show at the Bell Centre on Tuesday night, with Jagr moving into seventh place in all-time goal scoring and Brodeur stopping 29 shots as the Devils downed the Montreal Canadiens 4-1.DALLAS -- The Dallas Stars used a strong power play to stay in the Western Conference playoff chase on Monday night. Ray Whitney and Tyler Seguin scored with a man advantage and Dallas held off the Winnipeg Jets 2-1. "Power plays for us won it, and the power play for them got them back into it," Whitney said. The victory allowed Dallas to move within a point of the Phoenix Coyotes for the Western Conferences final playoff spot. The Stars have missed the playoffs in each of the past five seasons. Kari Lehtonen, whose 32 saves for Dallas included 14 in the third period, didnt give up a goal until the Jets Bryan Little scored with 2:44 remaining. Winnipeg had a 4-on-3 power play, and added a fifth skater by pulling goalie Al Montoya. "Special teams won the game, and the goalie made saves when he needed to," Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. "Kari was excellent. His saves were great, and his puck handling really helped us. He made some good passes." Stars captain Jamie Benn assisted on both goals. The Jets continued to fade in the post-season race. "It is (tough to make a playoff push like this)," Winnipeg coach Paul Maurice said. "The final results havent been good enough for our team. Were just getting closer to it. Were not there." The Jets are 2-6-3 in their past 11 games. One of the victories was a 7-2 rout of visiting Dallas eight days earlier. Ruff said he did not use that game as motivation. "I didnt even talk about last week. We had a tough night in goal, and when you start chasing the game, it can get ugly." Dallas defence has allowed only two goals in the past two games after giving up 16 in the previous three, all losses. Ruff said: "I think weve cleaned up the individual mistakes." The Stars have 79 points. Phoenix received a point for an overtime loss against the Rangers to reach 80. Whitney said that the team did some scoreboard watching. "We all look up to see the out-of-town scores. Everybody these last three weeks will be doing that." He scored 5:32 into the game from the left faceoff circle on a slap shot that went off Montoya and into the upper left corner. Late in the period, Dallas Valeri Nichushkin beat two defenders for a breakaway on the power play. Montoya, who finished with 25 saves, stoppeed the rookies backhand shot.dddddddddddd Winnipegs best chances came midway through the first, but Lehtonen stopped Blake Wheeler in close and saved Jim Slaters wraparound attempt. The Stars finished the period with a 12-11 edge in shots, and a 1-0 lead. Just 13 seconds into Dallas third power play, Tyler Seguin pulled the puck out of a pile in front and lifted a shot over Montoya at 16:09 of the second. Seguins 32nd goal was his sixth in five games against Winnipeg this season. His 10 points against the Jets are his highest total against any opponent. Winnipeg nearly scored on its first power play of the game. With two minutes remaining in the second, Lehtonen reached back to smother the puck after a shot from the blue line bounced off the crossbar. Defence dominated in a period when the Stars outshot the Jets 9-7. Winnipeg spent much of the third period in the Dallas end, peppering Lehtonen with 15 shots, but fell a goal short. "I thought we battled hard to try and get back in the game for the most part, especially the third," Little said. "We never really gave up and we made a push kind of like we did last game and just like last game, we came one short again." Whitney said: "I thought in the third we kind of sat back a little bit and played prevent D. When the situation tightens these last 11 games, youre going to see more of that." NOTES: Jets captain Andrew Ladd missed the game because his wife, Brandi, gave birth to a baby girl Sunday. He is expected to rejoin the team Thursday at San Jose for the second game of a five-game trip. Evander Kane joined Little and Michael Frolik on the first line. ... Goalie Ondrej Pavelec missed his fifth consecutive game because of an upper body injury. Wheeler left the ice in the third period after skating into an open door by the Dallas bench. He later rejoined his teammates on Winnipegs bench. . Sergei Gonchars first-period assist was his eighth in the past six games against the Jets. ... Benn has 15 points (seven goals, eight assists) in his past 11 games. ... The Stars last game with more than one power-play goal was March 6. ... Ruff said Erik Cole, who has missed the past two games because of an upper-body injury, would not accompany the team to Chicago for Tuesdays game against the Blackhawks. ' ' '