MINNEAPOLIS — One mistake is enough to get a Yankees pitcher beat these days when the overmatched lineup bleeds for every run.
So when Andy Pettitte made several gaffes tonight against the Twins at Target Field, the veteran left-hander strongly increased the odds he would wear a loss out of the wonderful ballpark.
But thanks to a three-run eighth that was fueled by a colossal blunder by Twins reliever Jared Burton, Pettitte avoided a fourth straight defeat as the Yankees snapped a five-game losing streak with a 10-4 victory that was witnessed by 29,619.
The win pulled the Yankees to within six games of the idle, AL East-leading Red Sox.
Joba Chamberlain (1-0) hurled a scoreless seventh, in which he issued a walk and hit a batter, and was the winner. David Robertson worked the eighth, and Mariano Rivera, who like Robertson hadn’t pitched in five days, recorded the final three outs with a six-run lead.
In five-plus innings, Pettitte posted two strikeouts and passed Whitey Ford as the leader of the all-time Yankees strikeout list with 1,958. Pettitte tied Ford in the second when he whiffed Clete Thomas. He passed the Hall of Famer in the fifth by getting Justin Morneau.
Had it not been for the gift eighth inning when the Yankees scored three runs, Pettitte would have moved ahead of Ford in a loss.
Robinson Cano, who homered in the first and third innings, doubled leading off the eighth. Ichiro Suzuki, batting for Vernon Wells, pushed a bunt toward the third-base line that Burton fielded and threw wide of first. Cano scored and Ichiro raced to third. Zoilo Almonte’s single to left plated Ichiro to give the Yankees a 5-4 lead.
With runners at second and third via Brian Duensing’s wild pitch, Chris Stewart’s soft groundout scored Almonte to make it 6-4.
The Yankees added four runs in the ninth and have beaten the Twins in 22 of the last 29 regular-season games and 28 of 35 overall.
Pettitte committed a throwing error in the three-run first inning that cost him a run. Five innings later, he hung an 82-mile breaking pitch to Chris Parmelee that the left-handed batter sent over the right-field wall to break a 3-3 tie.
Pettitte allowed four runs and six hits in five-plus frames.
In the Pettitte’s last four outings, he has given up 32 hits, eight walks and sports a hefty 5.84 ERA.
Cano’s first homer, off lefty Scott Diamond to right-center in the opening frame, gave the Yankees a 1-0 lead. His second, an opposite-field two-run blast in the third, tied the score at 3-3.
Cano homered after Jayson Nix reached first when third baseman Jamey Carroll botched a ground ball. Cano hit the next pitch for his 19th homer.
Pettitte’s opening inning was a nightmare. Thomas led off the home first with a five-pitch walk in front of Brian Dozier’s double to left. With runners on second and third, Ryan Doumit ripped a single to center that plated Thomas and Dozier for a 2-1 Twins lead.
The Yankees benefitted from first-base umpire Cory Blaser calling Morneau out at first on a grounder to David Adams at third when TV replays clearly showed Morneau was safe.
With two outs and Doumit on third, Oswaldo Arcia hit a dribbler between first and the mound. Pettitte broke toward the ball fine, but as he attempted to field it, his feet slipped and his left foot kicked the ball.
Foolishly Pettitte tried to throw to first from his knees and fired hopelessly wide to send Arcia to second. Doumit scored on the play, which was liberally scored a hit and an error. Pettitte kept it to a two-run disadvantage by getting Carroll on a grounder that finished the 41-pitch effort.
george.king@nypost.com